Information processing system

ABSTRACT

An information processing apparatus capable of easily executing calculation of an environmental load volume (LCA result). Inventory data, that is data of individual materials and components, is used as the basic data of aggregate data when calculating the environmental load volume. The aggregate data is made up of a plurality of inventory data. When information per product is inputted, aggregate data is calculated based on the inputted information and the aggregate data is used for calculation of LCA result. The LCA result is calculated also using other LCA results already calculated. The apparatus can be applied to a computer for calculating the environmental load volume.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an information processing system, andin particular, relates to an information processing system suitable forapplication in calculation of life cycle assessment.

BACKGROUND ART

Through a significant development of human production activities inrecent years, an enormous growth has been attained in scientific andtechnological fields as well as in the economic field; on the otherhand, however, there is an increasing apprehension of environmentaldestruction in global scale caused by consumption of resources andenergy for supporting these scientific and technological as well aseconomic activities. In the industrial fields, attempts at reducing theenvironmental damages caused by value-added products as much as possibleare considered to become more and more active in the future.

Under these circumstances, a method has been proposed in which a LCA(life cycle assessment) for quantitatively assessing an environmentalload of a product, i.e., load that affects the environment throughout alife cycle from extraction of the material, its manufacture, and adisposal thereof.

The proposed LCA, which has an advantage that environmental loads can beobtained quantitatively, is, however, associated with a problem thatvolume of data that must be obtained until the calculation of itsenvironmental load are enormous, requiring complicated calculation forits assessment, thereby requiring a considerably large number ofprocesses until a result thereof is obtained. Further, because a resultof calculation is restricted within a given condition, there is aproblem that the result of calculation may change greatly depending on aassumptions and/or variables to be considered.

Further, the data considered necessary for calculation of LCA extend tobroad areas. For example, although a variety of numbers of parts(components) data are required for constituting one product, there is aproblem that it takes lots of time and efforts to collect and manage thedata. Still further, there is a problem that a process to search adesired data from an enormous volume of data related to these componentsmay be very time-consuming and tedious.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been contemplated in view of theabove-mentioned problems, and to provide means for enabling to evaluatean environmental load within a corporation that covers a plurality ofproducts by allowing reviewing environmental data of these productsquickly in routine works, and constantly checking their conditions andreliability of data.

An information processing system according to the present invention ischaracterized by including a first information processing apparatus thatincludes a management means for managing a database to be dealt with bythe information processing system, a second information processingapparatus that includes an aggregation means for aggregating datarelated to a predetermined division to these data in the database undermanagement of the management means, and a third information processingapparatus that includes a calculation means which, by extracting data tocalculate an environmental load volume from the database on the basis ofa product information inputted, calculates the environmental loadvolume.

The above-mentioned the first information processing apparatus to thethird information processing apparatus are connected via a network forallowing data exchange with each other, and the data thus exchangedthrough the network may be enciphered or subjected to a security-check.

The above-mentioned data may be exchanged using a web browser.

A function of an information processing system according to anembodiment of the invention will be described.

In the information processing system according to the invention, thefirst information processing apparatus manages the database to be dealtwith by the information processing system; the second informationprocessing apparatus, among the data in the database, adds data relatedto the predetermined division to the database; and the third informationprocessing apparatus, on the basis of information related to a productinputted, extracts data for calculating an environmental load volumefrom the database, and calculate the environmental load volume.

The first information processing apparatus according to the invention ischaracterized by including: a production means for producing inventorydata; a generation means for generating aggregate data from a pluralityof inventory data produced by the production means; a management meansfor managing a database including the inventory data and the aggregatedata; and an extraction means for extracting a aggregate data from thedatabase under management of the management means and for calculating anenvironmental load volume.

The above-mentioned inventory data may include a flag that indicateswhether or not its data can be used as a basis-for generating theaggregate data by the generation means.

The above-mentioned management means is allowed to manage the inventorydata and the aggregate data in the database as sorted according toproduct categories.

The above-mentioned generation means is allowed to attach a versionnumber to the aggregate data generated, so that the management means canmanage the aggregate data by the version number.

The above-mentioned extraction means is allowed to extract the aggregatedata on the basis of the version number thereof.

Further, provided with an input means for inputting product information,the above-mentioned extraction means is allowed to specify the aggregatedata to be extracted by the product information inputted by the inputmeans.

The system may further include a storage (memory) means for storing theproduct information inputted by the input means therein by sorting intoeach product category.

The system may further include a calculation means for calculating theenvironmental load volume using the aggregate data extracted by theextraction means, and a display control means for controlling a displayof the environmental load volume calculated by the calculation means.

The above-mentioned calculation means is allowed to calculate theenvironmental load volume also using other environmental load volumesalready having been calculated.

Still further, the system is allowed to include a memory means forstoring the environmental load volumes calculated by the calculationmeans as sorted per product category.

A display screen of the environmental load volume the display of whichis controlled by the display control means is allowed to display atleast one or more out of a summary, a carbon dioxide emission quantity,an energy consumption quantity, a resources consumption quantity,details thereof, an amount to use of a recycled material, and an amountof a recyclable material.

The display screen of the environmental load volume the display of whichis controlled by the display control means is allowed to display theenvironmental load volume in juxtaposition with another one that iscalculated for the same product at a different timing.

Furthermore, the system may include an identifying means for identifyinga user having a first authorization who can instruct to generate boththe inventory data produced by the production means and the aggregatedata to be generated by the generation means without any limitation; auser having a second authorization who can instruct to generate both theinventory data to be generated by the production means and the aggregatedata to be generated by the generation means with a limitation that theauthorization should be within a scope of a predetermined division; anda user having a third authorization devoid of the privileges granted tothe first and the second authorizations, wherein the identifying meansis enabled to perform its identification by referring to a table inwhich the above-mentioned authorizations and the above-mentioned usersare correlated.

Still further, a memory (storage) means for storing at least one of theproduct information and the environmental load volume may be included,wherein a piece of information is added to the product informationsupplied by the user having the third authorization and to theenvironmental load volume calculated from the aggregate data extractedon the basis of the product information, for indicating whether it is ina status under work, in request of registration, or in a registeredstatus.

The above-mentioned second authorization is allowed to include anauthorization to rewrite the information indicative of a status inrequest of registration to the information indicative of a status ofalready registered.

The above-mentioned table may be arranged to indicate a correlationbetween the above-mentioned authorizations and the above-mentioned usersas sorted per product category.

The second and the third authorizations described above may grant theauthorization for the users having the second authorization or the thirdauthorization to exercise their authorizations within a limit of thepredetermined division registered in advance, and within a limit of theproduct category.

The first authorization described above may include an authorization tocontrol the table described above, so that user information newly to beentered is to be approved by the user having the first authorization.

The user information newly to be entered into the table may be suppliedat least to one of the user having the first authorization and the userhaving the second authorization via e-mail.

The information to be supplied via the e-mail at least to one of theuser having the first authorization and the user having the secondauthorization may be arranged to contain at least information related toa division (section) to which the information belongs or information ofa product category desired to be registered within the productcategories dealt with by the division (section).

In the case where the identifying means described above identifies thatthe user having the first authorization has accessed, all dataconstituting the database which is under management of the managementmeans is allowed to be accessed, and there is arranged further toinclude a provision means for providing image data constituting adisplay screen capable of instructing to generate data to be added tothe database.

In the case where the identifying means identifies that the user havingthe second authorization has accessed, the user thereof is allowed toaccess only to the data related to the predetermined division within thedata constituting the database under management of the management means,and further with inclusion of a provision means for providing image dataconstituting a display screen capable of instructing to generate datarelated to the predetermined division to be added to the database.

In the case where the identifying means identifies that the user havingthe third authorization has accessed, further, a provision means may beincluded for providing image data for constituting a display screen forexecution of a calculation of the environmental load volume within arange of the product category that the user has registered, among fromthe data constituting the database under control of the managementmeans.

Further, a first providing means for providing image data of an inputscreen for allowing entry of information necessary for generating theinventory data to be generated by the production means, and a secondproviding means for providing image data of an input screen for allowingentry of information necessary for generating the aggregate data to begenerated by the generation means may be included.

The input screen according to the image data provided by the first orthe second provision means may be arranged to include at least a columnto display information of literature that was referred to whengenerating (producing) the inventory data.

A first information processing method according to an embodiment of theinvention is characterized by including: a production step of producingan inventory data; a generation step of generating a aggregate data froma plurality of inventory data produced in the production step; amanagement step of managing a database including the inventory data andthe aggregate data; and an extraction means for extracting a aggregatedata from the database controlled in the management step, forcalculating an environmental load volume.

A first program in a recording medium according to the invention ischaracterized by including: a production step of producing an inventorydata; a generation step of generating a aggregate data from a pluralityof inventory data produced by a processing in the production step; amanagement step of managing the database including the inventory dataand the aggregate data; and an extraction means for extracting theaggregate data from the database controlled by a processing in themanagement step for calculating the environmental load volume.

The first program according to the invention enables a computer toexecute a production step for producing the inventory data; a generationstep for generating a aggregate data from a plurality of inventory dataproduced by processing in the production step; a management step formanaging the database including the inventory data and the aggregatedata; and an extraction step for extracting the aggregate data from thedatabase controlled by the processing in the management step forcalculating an environmental load volume.

Functions in the first information processing apparatus, the firstinformation processing method, the first recording medium and the firstprogram according to an embodiment of the invention will be described.

In the first information processing apparatus and the method as well asthe program embodying the invention, an inventory data is produced, aaggregate data obtained from a plurality of inventory data is produced,the database including the inventory data and the aggregate data ismanaged, and a aggregate data for calculating an environmental loadvolume is extracted from the database under management.

The second information processing apparatus according to the inventionis characterized by including: an input means for inputting data foridentifying a user; a table management means for managing a table inwhich a user and an authorization assigned thereto are correlated; adatabase management means for managing the database including theinventory data and the aggregate data; an identification means foridentifying an authorization of the user by referring to the table undercontrol of the table management means, from data inputted from an inputmeans; and a provision means for providing image data corresponding tothe authorization of the user identified by the identification means.

The image data to be provided by the provision means described above maybe arranged to include data that constitutes an input screen throughwhich to enter product information.

The image data to be provided by the provision means may be arranged tobe data of a display screen which allows use of the inventory data andthe aggregate data only within an extent of product categories that areregistered by the user.

The display screen described above may be arranged to have anarrangement for allowing entry of the product information in accordancewith its life stage.

The display screen described above may be arranged to constitute animage screen for each life stage owned by product information entered.

The input display screen for entering basic information relative to theinformation within the life stage described above may be provided with acolumn for displaying at least one of a registration number foridentifying the product information, a product name, a place ofmanufacture of the product, and a place of destination of the product.

The input display screen for entering the basic information describedabove may be provided further with a column for displaying a versionnumber of the aggregate data described above.

The input display screen for entering the basic information may beprovided still further with a column for displaying a timing ofassessment, whereby the registration number described above is changedin accordance with the timing of assessment.

The registration number having a different timing of the assessment canbe arranged to change its ending number corresponding to the timing ofthe assessment.

The input display screen for entering structure (constitution)information or maintenance information within the life stage is enabledto have a column to enter names of material or components (parts), and acolumn to enter a quantity of the material or the components to be usedthat are entered into the column for entering the names of material orthe components.

Still further, a calculation means can be included for calculating anenvironmental load volume using the extraction means for extracting theaggregate data under management of the database management means, byreferring to the names of the materials or components entered in thecolumn for entering the same, the aggregate data thus extracted by theextraction means, and the quantity of use entered through the column forentering the same.

On the input display screen for entering a product yield within the lifestage described above, a column for entering the product yield isprovided, and a correction means for correcting the environmental loadvolume calculated by the calculation means on the basis of the productyield entered through the column for entering the same may be furtherincluded.

On the input display screen for entering the structure (constitution)information or the maintenance information, there may further beprovided with a column for entering a category of the materials or thecomponents, a management means for managing the names of the materialsand components entered in the column for entering the names of thematerial or components by sorting into each category of the materials orthe components, and a control means for controlling so that when thecategory is entered in the column for entering the category of thematerial or the component, names of materials or componentscorresponding to the materials or components sorted within the categoryare caused to be entered in the column for entering the material orcomponents (parts) names.

On the input display screen for entering the structure information,there may be further included an input column for entering anapplication category, thereby enabling further to comprise: a managementmeans for managing the material names and the components names enteredin the column for entering the same as sorted per each applicationcategory; and a control means for controlling that when the applicationcategory is entered in the column for entering the application category,the materials names or the components names sorted within its categoryare caused to be inputted in the column for entering the materials nameor the components name.

On the input display screen for entering the manufacture informationwithin the life stage, there may be provided a column for entering amanufacture process name and a column for entering a quantity thereof touse.

There may be further included a calculation means for calculating anenvironmental load volume using the extraction means for extracting theaggregate data under management of the database management means inreference to the name of a process entered in the column for enteringthe manufacture process, the aggregate data extracted by the extractionmeans, and the quantity of use entered in the column for entering thequantity of use.

On the input display screen for entering a product yield within the lifestage, there is provided a column for entering the product yield, and acorrection means may be further included for correction of theenvironmental load volume calculated in the calculation means on thebasis of the product yield entered in the column for entering theproduct yield.

On the input display screen for entering the manufacture informationthere is further provided a column for entering a manufacturingdivision, and there may be further included a management means formanaging the manufacture process name entered through the column forentering the manufacture process name as sorted per each manufacturingdivision, and a control means for controlling so that when themanufacturing division is inputted in the column for entering themanufacturing division, a manufacture process name corresponding to themanufacture process name that is classified into this manufacturingdivision is caused to be inputted into the column for entering themanufacture process name.

On the input display screen for entering energy of manufacturing apackaging-substrate within the life stage, there may be provided anoption to select between a cost basis and a components basis forcalculating the energy of manufacturing the packaging substrate.

Out of the options described above, when an option to calculate themanufacturing energy of the packaging substrate on the components basisis selected, there may be provided columns for entering a name of itscomponents and a quantity of the components corresponding to its name,wherein the name of the components may be a name corresponding to theproduct information entered in the input display screen.

An extraction means for extracting a aggregate data corresponding to theoption selected above from the database under management of the databasemanagement means, and a calculation means for calculating anenvironmental load volume using the aggregate data extracted by theextraction means and the quantity entered in the column for entering thequantity may be further included.

On the input display screen for entering information related totransportation of the product within the life stage, there may beprovided a column for entering a volume of the product.

There may be further included an extraction means for extracting aaggregate data corresponding to a production site of the product and aplace of destination of the product which were entered in an inputdisplay screen of a different life stage, and a calculation means forcalculating an environmental load volume using the aggregate dataextracted by the extraction means described above and the volume enteredin the column for entering the volume of the product.

On an input display screen for entering information related to a statusin use or standby, there may be provided columns for entering an optionfor a power source for use in the status in use or at standby of theproduct, an input item corresponding to the power source optioned above,and a value corresponding to the input item.

There may be further included a first calculation means for calculatingelectric energy on the basis of the value inputted in the column forentering the value corresponding to the input item described above, anextraction means for extracting a aggregate data corresponding to theelectric energy calculated by the first calculation means from thedatabase under management of the database management means, and a secondcalculation means for calculating an environmental load volume using theaggregate data extracted by the extraction means.

On the input display screen for entering information related to disposalor recycle within the life stage described above, there may be providedan option to select between disposal and recycling.

The input display screen for entering the information related to thedisposal and recycle may be provided further with a column forindicating the site of destination of the product and a ratio ofdisposal by dumping of the product at that site as well as a ratio ofincineration of the product when the disposal is selected in the option,thereby, upon setting of the site of its destination, indicating thedumping ratio and the incineration ratio associated with that site ofdestination.

There may be further included: a first calculation means for calculatinga weight of dumping and a weight of incineration respectively from aweight of the product, a weight of combustible materials of the product,a weight of non-combustible materials thereof, a predetermined dumpingratio at its destination site and an incineration ratio that wereinputted at least in one of the input display screens for entering thestructure information and the maintenance information in other lifestages, or that were calculated from the information inputted; anextraction means for extracting a aggregate data correspondingrespectively to the weight of dumping and the weight of incinerationcalculated by the first calculation means from the database undermanagement of the database management means; and a second calculationmeans for calculating an environmental load volume using the aggregatedata extracted by the extraction means.

Further, when the recycle in the option is selected on the input displayscreen for inputting the information related to the disposal or therecycle, there may be included an extraction means for extracting aaggregate data corresponding to the weight of the product and aaggregate data corresponding to the weight of the recyclable materialswhich were inputted via the input display screen for inputting thestructure information or calculated from the information inputted fromthe database under management of the database management means, and acalculation means for calculating an environmental load volume using theaggregate data extracted by the extraction means.

Still further, a third calculation means may be included for calculatingthe environmental load volume by calculating the weight of the productper each category of the materials or components, i.e., extracting aaggregate data corresponding to a weight of incineration per category ofthe materials or the components, and using the aggregate data thusextracted.

Still more, a second calculation means may be included for calculatingthe environmental load volume by calculating the weight of the productper each material or component category, extracting a aggregate datacorresponding to a weight to be recycled per material or category, andusing the aggregate data thus extracted.

Further, a third calculation means may be included for calculating adifference between the aggregate data corresponding to the weight to berecycled per each material or component category and a aggregate datafor use of a gain calculation.

A second information processing method according to an embodiment of theinvention is characterized by including: an input control step forcontrolling entry of data for identifying a user; a table managementstep for managing a table in which users and authorizations belonging tothe users are correlated; a database management step for managing adatabase including inventory data and aggregate data; an identification(discrimination) step for identifying (discriminating) an authorizationof a user by using data inputted in the input control step as controlledby a processing therein and referring to the table under management ofthe table management step as managed by a processing therein; and asupply step for providing image data corresponding to the authorizationbelonging to the user as identified in the identification step by aprocessing therein.

A second recording medium program according to the invention ischaracterized by including: an input control step for controlling entryof data for identifying the user; a table management step for managing atable in which the user and the authorization belonging to the user arecorrelated; a database management step for managing a database includingan inventory data and a aggregate data; an identification step foridentifying an authorization of the user from the data the input thereofis controlled by processing in the input control step and by referringto the table under management by processing in the table managementstep; and a supply step for providing image data corresponding to theauthorization of the user as identified by processing in theidentification step.

The second program according to the invention enables a computer toexecute the input control step for controlling entry of the data foridentifying the user; the table management step for managing the tablein which the user and the authorization belonging to the user arecorrelated; the database management step for managing the databaseincluding the inventory data and the aggregate data; the identificationstep for identifying the authorization belonging to the user byreferring to the table under management in the table management step byusing the data the entry thereof being controlled by processing in theinput control step; and the supply step for supplying the image datacorresponding to the authorization belonging to the user as identifiedby processing in the identification step.

Functions in the second information processing apparatus, the secondinformation processing method, the second recording medium and thesecond program will be described.

In the second information processing apparatus, the method and theprogram thereof, the table in which the user and the authorizationbelonging to the user are correlated is managed, the database includingthe inventory data and the aggregate data is managed, the table undermanagement is referred to in accordance with the data inputted, theauthorization belonging to the user is identified, and the image datacorresponding to the authorization belonging to the user thus identifiedis provided.

A third information processing apparatus according to an embodiment ofthe invention is characterized by including: a storage means for storinginformation related to the components that satisfy a predeterminedcondition; a supply means for providing the information related to thecomponents stored in the memory means to a different apparatus; ajudgment means for judging whether or not a specific component, theinformation of which is stored in the storage means, satisfies thepredetermined condition, when the information thereof is requested froma different apparatus; and a storage execution means for executing astorage processing to store the predetermined component in the storagemeans when the predetermined component is judged to satisfy thepredetermined condition by the judgment means.

When the predetermined component is stored in the storage means by thestorage execution means, an accounting means for accounting may also beincluded.

When providing the information related to the components by the supplymeans described above, the accounting means for billing may be includedas well.

The predetermined condition described above may further include at leastone of conditions related to the rules and standards set up by themanager who manages the storage means and related to the packaging.

The information related to the components to be stored by the storagemeans may be arranged to contain at least one of the standardsinformation of the component, the packaging information, CAD informationand performance information.

A third information processing method according to the invention ischaracterized by including: a storage control step for controllingstorage of information related to the component that satisfies apredetermined condition; a supply step for providing the informationrelated to the component, the storage thereof being controlled byprocessing in the storage control step, to a different apparatus; ajudgment step for judging, when the stored information of thepredetermined component under control of the memory control step isrequested from other apparatuses, whether or not the predeterminedcomponent complies with the predetermined condition; and a storageexecution step for executing, when the predetermined component is judgedby processing in the judgment step to satisfy the predeterminedcondition, a process of the storage of the predetermined component beingcontrolled by processing in the control memory step.

A third program in a third recording medium according to the inventionis characterized by including: a storage control step for controllingstorage of information related to a component that satisfies apredetermined condition; a supply step for supplying information relatedto the component the storage of which is controlled by processing in thestorage control step to another apparatus; a judgment step for judging,when information of a predetermined component the storage of which iscontrolled in the storage control step is requested from anotherapparatus, whether or not the predetermined component satisfies apredetermined condition; and a storage execution step for executing aprocess for controlling the storage of the predetermined component byprocessing in the control storage step, when the predetermined componentis judged to satisfy the predetermined condition by processing in thejudgment step.

The third program according to the invention causes a computer toexecute: a storage control step for controlling the storage ofinformation related to the component that satisfies a predeterminedcondition; a supply step for supplying the information related to thecomponent the storage of which information is controlled by processingin the storage control step to another apparatus; a judgment step forjudging, when the memory (stored information) of the predeterminedcomponent the storage of which is controlled by the storage control stepis requested from another apparatus, whether or not the predeterminedcomponent satisfies the predetermined condition; and a storage executionstep for executing a process to control the storage of the predeterminedcomponent by processing in the control storage step.

Functions in the third information processing apparatus, the thirdinformation processing method, the third recording medium and the thirdprogram embodying the invention will be described.

In the third information processing apparatus and the method as well asin the program according to the invention, the information related tothe component that satisfies the predetermined condition is provided toanother apparatus, and when the storage of the predetermined componentis requested from another apparatus, only when the predeterminedcomponent is judged to satisfy the predetermined condition, thepredetermined component is stored in memory.

A component search apparatus embodying the invention is characterized byincluding: a storage means for storing components information thatcontains at least components specification information which is commonto respective components makers; a receiver means for receiving searchrequest information from user terminals; an information search means forsearching components information stored in the storage means in responseto a search request information, and outputting search resultinformation corresponding to a result of searching; and a transmit meansfor transmitting the search result information to the user terminal.

A components search system embodying the invention, a component searchapparatus in the components search system searches component informationon the basis of search request information received from the userterminal via the network, wherein the user terminal is provided with atransmission means for transmitting the search request information, andwherein the components search apparatus is characterized by including: astorage means for storing components information which contains at leastcomponents specification information which is common to respectivecomponents makers; a receiving means for receiving search requestinformation from the user terminal; information search means forsearching components information stored in the storage means, andoutputting search result information corresponding to a search result;and a transmission means for transmitting the search result informationto the user terminal.

Functions in the components search apparatus and the components searchsystem according to the embodiment of the invention will be described.

In the components search apparatus and the components search systemaccording to the invention, because that the components searchapparatus: stores the components information containing at least thecomponents specification information common to all the componentsmakers; receives the search request information from the user terminal;searches the components information stored on the basis of the searchrequest information; outputs search result information corresponding tothe search result; and transmits the search result information to theuser terminal, the user can search components having the samespecification available from different makers simultaneously and easily.

A term (terminology) conversion apparatus embodying the invention ischaracterized by including: a storage means for storing terms used byrespective components makers in association with a standardizedterminology; a receiving means for receiving specification informationfrom the user terminal; a conversion means for converting terms used inthe specification information received by the receiving means into astandardized terminology; and a transmission means for transmitting thespecification information converted into the standardized terminology bythe conversion means to a terminal of components makers.

The term conversion system according to the invention is a termconversion system for converting the terms used in the specificationinformation received by the term conversion apparatus from the terminalinto the standardized terminology, and is characterized by including: atransmission section for transmitting the specification information bythe user terminal; a storage means for storing terms used by respectivecomponents makers by corresponding to the standardized terminology bythe term conversion apparatus; a receiving means for receivingspecification information from the user terminal; a conversion means forconverting the terms used in the specification information received bythe receiving means into standard terminology; and a transmission meansfor transmitting specification information converted into the standardterminology by the conversion means to the terminals of componentsmakers.

Operations in the term conversion apparatus and the term conversionsystem according to the invention will be described.

According to the term conversion apparatus and the term conversionsystem embodying the invention, because that the term conversionapparatus stores the terms used by respective components makerscorresponding to the standard terminology, receives specificationinformation from the user terminal, converts terms used in thespecification information received to standardized terms, and sends thespecification information the terms in which was converted into thestandard terminology to the terminals of components makers, the user cansave troublesome, tedious work to associate the specification name theuser knows with a specification name used in the components maker at thedestiny of transmission of the specification information.

An updating apparatus for a components database embodying the inventionis characterized by including: a data hold means, upon receiving aninoperative components list from a plurality of suppliers, for holdingthe inoperative components lists received; a format conversion means forautomatically converting at least a portion of the inoperativecomponents lists being held to a formalized inoperative components list;and an updating means for updating the components database on the basisof the converted inoperative components list.

An updating method for the components database embodying the inventionis characterized by including: a data hold step upon receivinginoperative components lists from a plurality of suppliers for holdingthe inoperative components lists received; a format conversion step forautomatically converting at least a portion of the inoperativecomponents lists being held to a formatted inoperative components list;and an update step for updating the components database on the basis ofthe converted inoperative components list.

Operations in the updating apparatus and the updating method for thecomponents database according to the invention will be described.

In the updating apparatus and the method of the components databaseaccording to the invention, because the inoperative components list isprovided from the components makers at the suppliers and the componentsdatabase is updated using thus provided information, a work load to beimposed on the updating of the parts (components) database can besubstantially reduced. Further, by conversion of the lists submitted inversatile formats differing from a supplier to a supplier to apredetermined format, it becomes possible to effectively utilize theinoperative components lists.

A parts (components) database system embodying the invention is acomponents database system including a plurality of databases related toparts, and is characterized in that when information in the database ischanged at a request from the terminal, a reference key which is capableof uniquely identifying the information within the plurality ofdatabases is extracted, relevant (related) information is specified fromwithin the plurality of databases by the reference key, and the relevantinformation thus specified is updated.

A conventional parts database system is in effect directed to aprocessing on the side of the server, however, in the parts databasesystem according to the invention, a parts database system includingterminals is discussed in order to clarify a processing on the network.

In an updating method of a database system including a plurality ofdatabases related to parts, the updating method of the parts databasesystem embodying the invention is characterized by including: when itbecomes necessary to update the parts database system, an extractionstep of extracting a reference key for use of data identification fromthe plurality of databases; and an updating step for specifying relatedinformation from the plurality of databases by the reference key, andupdating the related information thus specified.

In a database control unit for controlling a plurality of databasesrelated to parts, the database control unit embodying the invention ischaracterized by including: an extraction means for extracting areference key which is capable of identifying information uniquely amongwithin the plurality of databases; and an update means, by specifyingrelated information from among the plurality of databases with thereference key, for updating the related information thus identified.

In a database control method for controlling a plurality of databasesrelated to parts, the database control method embodying the invention ischaracterized by including: an extract step for extracting a referencekey which is capable of identifying information uniquely within theplurality of databases; and an update step for specifying relatedinformation from within the plurality of databases by the reference key,and updating the related information specified.

In a recording medium recorded with a database control program forcontrolling a plurality of databases related to parts, the databasecontrol program embodying the invention is characterized by including:an extract step for extracting a reference key which is capable ofidentifying data uniquely within the plurality of databases; and anupdate step, by specifying related information from within the pluralityof databases with the reference key, for updating the relatedinformation specified.

In a recording medium recorded with a database control program forcontrolling a plurality of databases related to parts, a recordingmedium embodying the invention is characterized by including: an extractstep for extracting a reference key which is capable of identifying datauniquely within the plurality of databases; and an update step, byspecifying related information from within the plurality of databaseswith the reference key, for updating the related information specified.

In the following, functions in the parts database system and theupdating method thereof, the database control unit and the controlmethod thereof, the database control program as well as the recordingmedium embodying the invention will be described.

In the parts database system embodying the invention, because thereference key is extracted from within the plurality of databases andthe related information which was specified in accordance with thereference key is updated, a consistency between the plurality ofdatabases can be secured.

In the update method of the parts database system embodying theinvention, because the reference key is extracted from within theplurality of databases and the related information which was specifiedin accordance with the reference key is updated, a consistency betweenthe plurality of the databases can be secured.

In the database control unit embodying the invention, because thereference key is extracted from within the plurality of databases andthe related information which was specified according to the referencekey is updated, consistency between the plurality of databases can besecured.

In the database control method embodying the invention, because thereference key is extracted from within the plurality of databases andthe related information specified on the basis of the reference key, isupdated, consistency among the plurality of databases can be secured.

In the database control program embodying the invention, because thereference key is extracted from within the plurality of databases andthe related information specified on the basis of the reference key isupdated, consistency among the plurality of databases can be secured.

In the recording medium embodying the invention, because the referencekey is extracted from within the plurality of databases and the relatedinformation specified on the basis of the reference key is updated,consistency between the plurality of databases can be secured.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an LCA system accordingto one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram describing a sector.

FIG. 3 is another diagram describing a sector.

FIG. 4 is a diagram describing data.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing specific examples of data.

FIG. 6 is a diagram describing authorization levels.

FIG. 7 is a diagram describing a process of correction in accordancewith authorization level.

FIG. 8 is a diagram describing a process of application and a process ofapproval.

FIG. 9 is a diagram describing a process of deletion in accordance withthe authorization level.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a master table.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of internal structures of PC10.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart describing operation of LCA system.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an initial display screen.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart describing procedures of user registration.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a user registration display screen.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a product category registration displayscreen.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a display screen displayed to a user in afirst management sector.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a display screen displayed to a user in asecond management sector.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing a display screen displayed to a user in auser sector.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing a display screen indicating a menu for useby managers.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing a display screen for executing approval ofa user registration.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing a display screen for conducting a usersearch.

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an inventory data input screen.

FIG. 24 is a diagram continuing from FIG. 23.

FIG. 25 is a diagram describing stages.

FIG. 26 is a diagram showing an inventory data input screen.

FIG. 27 is a diagram continuing from FIG. 26.

FIG. 28 is a diagram showing a aggregate data input screen.

FIG. 29 is a diagram continuing from FIG. 28.

FIG. 30 is a diagram showing an input screen for basic information.

FIG. 31 is a diagram showing an input screen for structure(constitution) information.

FIG. 32 is a diagram showing an input screen for manufacturinginformation.

FIG. 33 is a diagram showing an input screen for manufacture and others.

FIG. 34 is a diagram showing an input screen for transportation data.

FIG. 35 is a diagram showing an input screen for data in use/at standby.

FIG. 36 is a diagram showing an input screen for data ofdisposal/recycling.

FIG. 37 is a diagram showing an LCA result display screen.

FIG. 38 is a diagram showing an LCA result display screen.

FIG. 39 is a diagram showing an LCA result display screen.

FIG. 40 is a diagram showing an LCA result display screen.

FIG. 41 is a diagram showing an input screen for structure information.

FIG. 42 is a diagram showing an input screen for manufacture and others.

FIG. 43 is a diagram showing a configuration of an informationprocessing system according to another embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 44 is a diagram describing information stored in a partsinformation database 111.

FIG. 45 is a diagram describing performance information.

FIG. 46 is a diagram describing standards information.

FIG. 47 is a diagram describing CAD information.

FIG. 48 is a diagram describing packaging information.

FIG. 49 is a flowchart describing process sequences on the side ofsuppliers.

FIG. 50 is a flowchart describing process sequences on the side of apurchaser.

FIG. 51 is a diagram showing a structure of a parts search systemaccording to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 52 is an example of search screens displayed at a user terminal.

FIG. 53 is an example of search screens displayed at the user terminal.

FIG. 54 is an example of search result display screen displayed at theuser terminal.

FIG. 55 is an example of search result comparison display screendisplayed at the user terminal.

FIG. 56 is an example of purchase application display screen displayedat the user terminal.

FIG. 57 is an example of user authentication display screen displayed atthe user terminal.

FIG. 58 is an example of application contents verification screendisplayed at the user terminal.

FIG. 59 is an example of order receipt acknowledgement formats generatedat a maker's terminal.

FIG. 60 is a flowchart for describing a search operation and a searchprocessing in the parts search system.

FIG. 61 is a diagram showing a configuration of a parts search systemaccording to another embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 62 is a flowchart for describing services for providing partsspecification via the network.

FIG. 63 is an example of search screen displayed at the user terminal.

FIG. 64 is an example of specification information designation screendisplayed at the user terminal.

FIG. 65 is a diagram showing a configuration of a terminology conversionsystem according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 66 is a diagram showing an exemplary standard terms database.

FIG. 67 is an example of specification information input screendisplayed at the user terminal.

FIG. 68 is a flowchart for describing sequential steps from sendingspecification information to parts makers to purchasing of the parts.

FIG. 69 is a diagram showing a structure of a terminology conversionsystem according to another embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 70 is a diagram showing an example of standard terms databases.

FIG. 71 is a diagram showing a structure of a system including partsdatabase updating device according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 72 is a flowchart for describing the 0^(th) processing for aninoperative parts list.

FIG. 73 is a flowchart for describing the primary processing for theinoperative parts list.

FIG. 74 is a schematic diagram showing an exemplary formattedinoperative parts list.

FIG. 75 is a flowchart for describing a formatted processing.

FIG. 76 is a flowchart for describing the secondary processing for theinoperative parts list.

FIG. 77 is a schematic diagram for describing field information in aplurality of databases the present invention can be applied to.

FIG. 78 is a flowchart describing a maintenance management method for aplurality of database systems.

FIG. 79 is a flowchart for describing sequences of parts selectionprocessing.

FIG. 80 is a flowchart for describing a database maintenance andmanagement of an updating apparatus according to an embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 81 is a block diagram showing an example of configurations of theparts information search system according to another embodiment of theupdating apparatus embodying the invention.

FIG. 82 is a schematic diagram for describing field information of aplurality of database systems.

FIG. 83 is a flowchart for describing sequences of parts informationsearch processing.

FIG. 84 is a flowchart for describing sequences of parts informationsearch processing.

FIG. 85 is a flowchart for describing sequences of parts informationsearch processing.

FIG. 86 is a schematic diagram showing an example of search displayscreen.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

In the following, a preferred embodiment of the invention will bedescribed with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is adiagram showing a configuration of an information processing system forcalculating a LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) according to a preferredembodiment of the invention. A head office 1 and branch offices 2-1 to2-N are connected via a network 3 so as to be able to exchange datamutually.

In this embodiment, the head office 1 refers to a division that has anoverall authorization to control a system and data that will bedescribed later, and branch offices 2-1 to 2-N refer to a division thathas only a limited authorization partially to be able to manage (to use)the system and data. The branch offices 2-1 to 2-N have theirauthorizations further divided internally (Details thereof will bedescribed later).

More specifically, if an information processing system shown in FIG. 1exists within one corporation (Here, the information processing systemwill be described by way of example as applied to an LCA system), headoffice 1 refers to a division that has an authorization to administerthe whole system, and branch offices 2-1 to 2-N refer to divisions otherthan the head office 1, i.e., a respective factory and so on. Further,it may be assumed that head office 1 refers to a corporation A, andbranch offices 2-1 to 2-N refer to a corporation B and so on besides thecorporation A.

The head office 1 is provided with a PC (Personal Computer) 10.Likewise, branch office 2-1 is provided with PC 11-1 to 11-m. Also,branch offices 2-2 to 2-N are provided with a plurality of PCs,likewise. In the following description, branch offices 2-2 to 2-N willbe described simply as branch 2 unless they need to be identified fromone another. Likewise, PC 11-1 to 11-m will be described simply as PC 11unless they need to be identified from one another (The same applies toother apparatuses or the like). Further, in the following description,respective PCs provided at branches 2-1 to 2-N will be represented by PC11.

By the way, the head office 1 is provided with not only one PC10, butalso with a plurality thereof. Here, the following description will bemade assuming that one PC 10 executes their processing representatively.

The network 3 which is constructed with wireless and/or cables is anetwork represented by the Internet or the like. PC11 may be connecteddirectly with the network 3 or may be connected via a LAN (Local AreaNetwork) within the branch 2. Further, as described above, because thehead office 1 and the branch 2 may be located within one corporation,the network 3 by itself may be constructed by LAN or may have astructure connected with a dedicated cable.

The branch 2 is provided with a plurality of PCs 11, however, apredetermined number of units among them are divided into a group of PCs11 (to be described as PC 12 though not indicated in FIG. 1 in order todiscriminate from other PC 11) that have a narrow range of authorizationthan the authorization granted to that at the head office 1, and intoanother group of PC11 that have a narrower range of authorization thanthe authorization granted thereto (the above-mentioned group of PC11).

Here, it should be noted that the expression “have an authorization”means that the user who operates PC10 or PC11 actually has itsauthorization. Even if the same personal computer (PC) is used,depending on its authorization of the operating user (who logged in),contents that can be processed differ. However, for the convenience ofdescription, the expression “to have an authorization” will be usedappropriately to mean the authorization granted to PC10, PC11 or PC12.

In other words, as for classification of authorizations described above,in the present embodiment, LCA system includes three sectors asdescribed in FIG. 2. That is, the LCA system is comprised of a firstmanagement (administration) sector that administers the whole system(data), a second management sector that manages (uses) a branch system(data) within branch 2 that is within a portion under administration ofthe first management sector, and a user sector that uses the system(data) chiefly under management of the second management sector.

When the LCA system according to the embodiment of the invention isconstructed within one company, a relation, for example, as shown inFIG. 3 will apply. That is, the first management sector corresponds to ahead office, the second management sector corresponds to a unit ofdivisions, and the user sector corresponds to a unit ofdivisions/sections. In FIG. 3, as the second sector, three divisions ofDivision A, Division B and Division C are provided, and in each divisionthere are provided three user sectors. Such a system with athree-layered structure is constructed in each company.

Here, in order to describe the authorization furthermore, data to bedealt with in this embodiment will be explained. The data can beclassified into data that can be generated, data that can be referredto, or the like according to authorization. FIG. 4 is a diagramdescribing a mutual relation among data to be dealt with in thisembodiment. The data as shown in FIG. 4 can be classified mainly intotwo types of inventory data and aggregate data.

The inventory data is data that indicates a relationship between aninput of respective materials and parts and an output thereof. Forexample, it is data indicating such a relation that in order tomanufacture a material A, a quantity B of a material C is inputted, anda quantity D of waste E is discharged. This inventory data has referredto another inventory data that in order to manufacture the material C, aquantity F of a material G is inputted, and a quantity F of carbondioxide is emitted (outputted).

Inventory data describing such relationships exist in a plurality ofnumbers, for example, from inventory data 21-1 to 21-N as shown in FIG.4. Inventory data 21 may exist sometimes singularly, or may exist inassociation by reference to other inventory data 21. Inventory data 21-6refers to inventory data 21-1 and inventory data 21-2.

With reference to FIG. 5, a more specific case will be described. Fromcrude oil inventory data 21-1 and water inventory data 21-2, ethaneinventory data 21-3 is produced. From ethane inventory data 21-3 andoxygen inventory data 21-4, ethylene inventory data 21-5 is produced.Further, from ethylene inventory data 21-5 and terephthalic acidinventory data 21-6, PET inventory data 21-7 is produced.

Further, electric power inventory data 21-8 is produced from crude oilinventory 21-9 and carbon dioxide inventory data 21-10, assuming thatcrude oil is inputted and carbon dioxide is emitted (here, forconvenience of explanation, other power generation is omitted as anegligible value).

As described above, the plurality of inventory data 21 exist singularly,or correlated with others.

Aggregate (aggregation, add-up) data is data obtained by aggregating aplurality of inventory data 21, and there exist a plurality of aggregatedata 22-1 to 22-N as shown in FIG. 4. Aggregate data 22 exists as dataof parts (components) and/or materials like PET aggregate data 22,copper aggregate data 22 or the like.

By referring to the specific example of inventory data 21 in FIG. 5,aggregate data 22 will be described. For example, as for PET aggregatedata 22 (indicated as inventory data 21-7 in FIG. 5), assuming thatfirstly, crude oil X kg and water Y kg were used as materials, andcarbon dioxide Z Kg is emitted due to energy (here, mainly electricpower), by using the crude oil inventory data 21-1 and water inventorydata 21-2, a quantity of emission of carbon dioxide is calculated. Bycarrying out such processing to other inventory data 21-1 to 21-6 thatare connected to PET inventory data 21-7, a PET aggregate data 22 (notindicated in FIG. 5) is generated.

As described above, aggregate data 22 is data in which data of materialsand emission are calculated. From these data, through a processing to bedescribed later, using data of a quantity of emission of carbondioxides, a quantity of energy consumption and a quantity of resourcesconsumption, LCA results 23-1 to 23-M (FIG. 4) of product informationare calculated. By enabling for this LCA result 23 to contain correlatedinformation, it is enabled, for example, for LCA result 23 related to TVreceivers to use LCA result 23 related to cathode ray tubes alreadyproduced.

Inventory data 21 and aggregate data 22 are managed (controlled) assorted per product category to be described later.

Inventory data 21 has items such as specific materials or parts uniqueto a specific product, and items of basic materials such as electricpower or crude oil that will be used commonly throughout the wholeproducts. If the LCA system according to the embodiment of the inventionis constructed within one corporation, and in the case this corporationmanufactures a plurality of types of products, it is preferable forinventory data 21 related to the specific materials and specific partsunique to the specific products to be generated and managed in adivision handling this product (a site close to its manufacturing site),using appropriate data suited to its division, however, as for theregular inventory data 21 such as electric power and crude oil, it isnot preferable to use different data within the same company.

Therefore, the inventory data has such a scheme that a managementdivision that executes generation and management of the inventory datais designated, and unless a special permission is given, a generationand modification of the inventory data outside one's own managementdivision is not allowed. This scheme will be described in the following.

The first management sector (section) administers the whole inventorydata 21 and the whole aggregate data 22. Management in the firstmanagement sector, in this case, means that as for the inventory data21, processing of search, correction and deletion can be executed, andthat as for the aggregate data 22, processing such as search can beexecuted. The second management sector manages a limited inventory data21 and aggregate data 22. The term “limited” in this case means that itis limited to a portion of the product category (even with respect tothis category, further limitation may be added as will be describedlater) dealt with, for example, within branch 2.

The user sector is allowed to calculate a final environmental loadvolume using aggregate data 22 only within the product category that ismanaged by the second sector that is an upper division of the usersector.

As for the production of inventory data 21, if a division of a user whologged in is the division A, its inventory data 21 produced by the userbecomes an inventory data 21 of the division A. Namely, although theuser in the first management sector can generate inventory data 21 as auser in the first management sector, he/she is not allowed to produceinventory data 21 in division A as a user of division A.

In this system, in order to clarify which division manages which data,information indicating that which data is under management of whichdivision is displayed on a display screen the user observes. Forexample, by referring to FIG. 28 to be described later, on an upper leftportion in the drawing, “Data Management Division” is displayed, in thisinstance, a division named “TV” is indicated to manage the data.

The inventory data 21 and aggregate data 22 shown in FIG. 4 are storedand managed in a storage device (not shown) provided in PC 10 at thehead office 1.

The authorization will be described further with reference to FIG. 6.The authorization described hereinabove can be indicated in 5 levels inthis embodiment. In FIG. 6, five levels of 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 are providedas authorization levels. By use of odd numbers as described above, itbecomes possible to realize, for example, that a predetermined user (whobelongs to the second management sector or the user sector) may begranted additional authorization other than originally assigned for apredetermined period of time, by providing an authorization level 2 (ofcourse, 4, 6 or the like will do).

Further, without limitation of the predetermined period of time, if someprocessing depending on a particular authorization increases in thefuture, or if a necessity to provide a new authorization arises,authorization levels in even numbers may be used.

It should be understood that the authorization levels may be set not inodd numbers but in even numbers as well. Further, it is also possible toset up levels greater than 5 or less than 5. As for the number oflevels, it is preferable to set up an appropriate number depending on ascale of the system or the like.

The authorization levels 1 and 3 are authorization levels granted to theuser sector, the authorization levels 5 and 7 are authorization levelsgranted to the second management sector, and the authorization level 9is an authorization level granted to the first management sector.

The authorization level 1 allows execution of processing of search,correction, deletion and application related to a model name having amodification authorization in product information. Here, the productinformation is meant to be information related to a product each branch2 manages (manufactures), and also information to be inputted at thetime of calculation of environmental loads in each life cycle stage tobe described later. Therefore, those one to whom the authorization level1 is given are mainly those who are involved in the development of aproduct.

The expression “related to the model/part having the modificationauthorization” is meant that the authorization to modify the informationis limited only to the information related to the product (related tothe product for which the user was registered as having a modificationauthorization at the time of entry of the product information) the useris involved in the development thereof. The modification refers tosearch, correction, deletion and application.

To the user in the authorization level 1, a permission to executeprocessing of correction and deletion is given within the limit of theproduct information having the modification authorization. Theapplication (request) is a processing to be executed for registeringproduct information one has generated as a formal data (to put into astatus usable by the other users), with a permission of the user in theauthorization level 3 given.

The user in the authorization level 1 is also capable of searchinginformation related to an item having no modification authorizationwithin a registered product category. As for the expression “theregistered product category”, although the user who wishes to use theLCA system according to the invention must execute a process ofregistration in advance to be described later, in items of theregistration, there is an item of selecting a product category, and thusit refers to the product category the user has registered as an item theuser wishes to execute a processing such as a searching or the like.

The expression “the item (product) having no authorization to modifywithin the registered product category” refers to product informationwithin a plurality of product categories, access to which was registeredalready, but is not given authorization to modify, or refers to aproduct the product information of which is not produced by oneself.With respect to such products, the user in the authorization level 1 isgiven permission only to execute a process of searching.

The process the user can execute who is given the authorization level 1will be described further by referring to FIG. 7. User A having a name Aand user B having a name B both belongs to division X, registered CTV asa product category, and are given authorization level 1. Under productinformation Q, it is specified that a product model name is TV-01, aproduct category is CTV, and persons having authorization to modify areuser A and user B. Under product information R, it is specified that aproduct model name is TV-02, product category is CTV, and persons havingauthorization of modify is only user B.

User A is registered as a person having authorization to modify withrespect to product information Q, however, is not registered as a personhaving authorization to modify with respect to product information R.Therefore, although user A can execute processing such as search,correction, deletion, application with respect to the productinformation Q, he can only execute a process of search with respect tothe product information R. In contrast, because the user B is registeredas a person having authorization to modify in both of the productinformation Q and the product information R, he is allowed to executeprocessing of search, correction, deletion and application in both ofthem.

As described above, by limiting the processing such as correction,deletion and application only to the user who is registered as theperson having authorization to modify (i.e. a user who produced theproduct information, or a user who is given permission by that user),such a trouble can be avoided that a user who has no authorizationdeletes the data inadvertently.

The user in the authorization level 3 is further given a permission tobe able to execute a processing of registration with respect to aproduct type having authorization to modify, in addition to theprocessing permitted to the user in the authorization level 1. The userin the authorization level 3 corresponds, for example, to a supervisorof the person in the authorization level 1. The processing ofregistration is a process to approve the data the user in theauthorization level 1 applies to be added to the database.

By referring to FIG. 8, further description of the application and theregistration will be given. The user in the authorization level 1(hereinafter, referred to as user A, if appropriate) generates productinformation. This product information under preparation is in a statusopen to a user who is registered if in the same product category. Uponcompletion of generation of the product information, the user A executesa processing of application. This processing is performed by operating abutton of application (not shown) displayed on a display screen for usein producing the product information.

By operating the button of the application, this product informationproceeds from a status 1 of under preparation to a status 2 of underapplication. Such a change in status is controlled by a status code.

With respect to such product information under application, if the userin the authorization level 3 and who has authorization to executeprocessing of application to that product information (who is referredto as user B) executes the processing of registration, the status codethereof is changed to a registration status of status 3. Uponregistration, its product information is handled as a formal data, andput in a status open for other users to browse. By way of example, theproduct information even if in a stage prior to becoming the formaldata, it may be put in a status open for other users to browse.

Processing of correction, deletion of the product information onceregistered as the formal data as described above is set no moreexecutable. By setting as above, the product information having beenregistered as the formal data is secured to be prevented from suchoccurrence that it is deleted or destroyed (changed) inadvertently or bymistake.

User A is capable of deleting the product information which was appliedin error and in the status of application, namely, to return to thestatus of preparation. Likewise, user B is capable of returning theproduct information which was approved and registered in error to thestatus under preparation.

As described above, by causing for the status code indicating the statusof data to be contained in the product information, and allowingexecution of the processing of the application, approval, cancellationand the like, it is enabled to clarify identification of the data if itis data under preparation, post preparation, under application or aformal (registered) data thereby enabling to execute its management andoperation smoothly.

By setting up steps of the application (of request) and the approval,and by allowing a different user to execute these processing, that is,by providing a scheme or framework to check certainty of the productinformation by people more than two, it is enabled to enhancereliability of the product information generated (registered). Whenexecuting LCA, it is very important that the data to be used (includinginventory data 21, aggregate data 22 and the like) has a highreliability, and it is important to enhance the reliability by providingsuch framework.

Returning to the description of the authorization levels in reference toFIG. 6, authorization levels 5 and 7 are authorizations to be assignedto users who belong to the second management sector, wherein basicprocessing permitted to them are the same. However, the reason ofproviding the authorization level 5 and the authorization level 7 is forenabling to differentiate in minute portions in the processing whetherto approve or not, to correspond to a newly added processing, todifferentiate between a subordinate and a supervisor, and the like.

The authorization levels 5 and 7 (hereinafter, referred to asauthorization level 5 unless there is a need to discriminate betweenauthorization levels 5 and 7) are defined to include authorizations toexecute, in addition to the processing permitted to the user in theauthorization level 3, a processing of correction, deletion, applicationand registration within the registered product category with noauthorization to modify, a processing of search within the productcategory in the same management division but is not registered, andfurther processing of generation, correction, deletion and aggregationfor the inventory data in the division belonging thereto.

The users in the authorization level 5 and authorization level 7 arealso given an authorization to approve or not an application from a userwho applied for a user registration, and an authorization to approve ornot an application from a user who applied for addition and/or deletionof a product category. However, it should be noted that the user in theauthorization level 5 is given the authorization to approve theapplication submitted only from the users in the authorization levels 1and 3, and the user in the authorization level 7 is given theauthorization to approve the application submitted only from the usersin the authorization levels 1, 3 and 5.

As described hereinabove, the second management sector has a broaderauthorization than that of the users in the user sector, for example, ithas a responsibility for managing the LCA system and the data in thebranch 2. Thereby, from a viewpoint that any associate other than thosewho originated the product information should be also responsible formanagement of the product information if it is within the productcategory of already registered in order for its product category to bedealt with properly by the branch office 2, the user in theauthorization level 5 is given the authorization to execute theprocessing of generation of the product information, correction,deletion, application, registration and the like thereof.

Further, the user in the authorization level 5 is given an authorizationto be able to execute only a processing of search through the productcategory in the same management division outside the registration. Byway of example, here, the authorization to be able to execute theprocessing of search is defined to include an authorization, afterexecution of the search, to be able to display (for browsing) thecontents thereof (the search). For the user in the authorization level5, because the authorization to manage the product category to be dealtwith in the branch 2 is given, the user in the authorization level 5 arebasically in a status of already registered in the whole productcategories to be dealt with by the branch 2 to which the user belongs.

Therefore, basically, for the user in the authorization level 5, “theproduct category in the same management division outside theregistration” does not exist unless the user in the authorization level5 intentionally deletes the registered product category or the like.

Further, the user in the authorization level 5 is also given anauthorization to be able to execute processing such as search,correction, deletion and addition with respect to the inventory data inthe division the user belongs to. The reason of giving suchauthorization is for sharing work loads from each other because it isconsidered to be difficult in view of its enormous volume for theauthorization level 9 (the user belonging to the head office 1 thatsupervises the whole system) to generate and manage the whole inventorydata.

Still further, the user in the authorization level 5 who is closer to anactual site of manufacturing the product is capable of producing a moreneeded inventory data than the user in the authorization level 9 remotefrom the actual site of manufacturing the product. Because of the reasondescribed above, the user in the authorization level 5 is given theauthorization to be able to execute processing of correction of theinventory data, deletion, aggregation (a process to generate aggregatedata from the inventory data) and the like.

However, because the inventory data is data which is required to have ahigh level of reliability, and be managed accurately and safely, theuser in the authorization levels 1 or 3 even though they are positionedcloser to the actual site of manufacturing the product is not given theauthorization to execute processing of correction of the inventory dataor the like.

Here, differences in the processing the user in the authorization levels1, 3 and 5 can execute will be described with reference to FIG. 9. InFIG. 9, a description will be made mainly by way of example ofprocessing of deletion. User A having a name A is shown that a divisionof user is X, a registered product category is CTV, and an authorizationlevel is 1. User C having a name C is shown that a division of user isX, a registered product category is CTV, and an authorization level is5. User D having a name D is shown that a division of user is X (Y?) aregistered product category is LCD and an authorization level is 5.

The user A, because of its authorization level being 1 and not beingregistered as a person having the authorization to change productinformation Q, is not allowed to execute processing of deletion withrespect to product information Q. In contrast, the user C, although notregistered as a person having an authorization to change the productinformation Q, because of its authorization level being 5, and becauseof a coincidence in product categories, can execute processing ofdeletion with respect to the product information Q.

The user D, although its authorization level is 5 likewise the user C,because its division of user differs from the management division X thatadministers the product information Q, cannot execute processing ofdeletion with respect to the product information Q. That is, because theuser D specifies management division Y as the user for the productinformation Q, which is different from management division X whichadministers the product information Q, the user D cannot execute anyprocessing with respect to the product information Q.

Now, back to the description of the authorization levels in reference toFIG. 6, a user granted an authorization level 9, namely, the user in thefirst management sector is given an authorization to execute the wholeprocessing with respect to the whole data to be dealt with in the LCAsystem.

The reason why there are provided the processing that can be executedand the other that cannot be executed depending on the authorizationlevels is to make it easier to manage the product information and theinventory data as well as to enhance the reliability thereof. Further,by provision of the processing that can be executed and the other thatcannot be executed depending on the authorization levels, and bydisplaying only a button corresponding to the processing that can beexecuted on an operating screen, a convenient and easier to use functionwill be provided to the user, with useless information omitted.

As described above, because there arises a difference in the processingthat can be executed, it is required for the authorization level itselfto be managed adequately. The authorization level is granted by the userin the first management sector who receives a request from apredetermined user side. Further, the product category and the like thatthe predetermined user can execute its registration is limited to aportion permitted by the user in the first management sector, and it isnot designed to permit a registration in the whole product categoriesdesired by the predetermined user.

If the user in the first management sector is supposed to executeprocessing of the whole requests from a predetermined user side, forexample, if the scale of the company is large and the number ofemployees increases, a work load on the user in the first managementsector increases substantially. Therefore., it may be arranged so thatthe second management sector is also allowed to execute the processingof the requests from the user in the user sector. In other words, thismeans that the request from the user in the lower authorization level isexecuted by the user in the upper authorization level.

That is, the user in the first management sector processes the requestfrom the user in the second management sector, and the user in thesecond management sector processes the request from the user in the usersector (the user in the first management sector, of course, can processthe same). By arranging as described above, the processing that must beexecuted by the user in the first management sector may be lessened.

For example, as described hereinabove with reference to FIG. 6, bygranting the authorization to approve application of the userregistration also to the user in the second management sector, the userin the first management sector is no more required to execute theprocessing of approval for all the users who use the system, therebylightening the burden of processing by the user in the first managementsector. Further, sometimes it is more suitable for the second managementsector closer to the actual site than the first management sector tomanage the user in the user sector, thereby enabling the management tobe extended more thoroughly.

Such authorization levels and product categories are managed by PC 10(FIG. 1) provided on the side of the first management sector. Forexample, they are managed according to a master table as shown in FIG.10. Namely, it is a table in which the name, user division,authorization level and application product categories are correlated.The use division and the application product category may be manageddirectly by name thereof, or may be managed by a number or the likeassigned thereto.

The user division refers; to a division (department) the user hasdesired of its registration at the time of processing of theregistration to be described later, and basically refers to the divisionto which the user belongs. This master table is stored in a storagedevice (not shown) in PC 10.

An internal architecture of PC 10 will be described. FIG. 11 is adiagram showing an example of internal architectures of PC 10. A CPU(Central Processing Unit) 41 in PC 10 executes versatile processing inaccordance with programs stored in a ROM (Read Only Memory) 42. In a RAM(Random Access Memory) 43 is stored appropriately data and a programnecessary for executing various processing by CPU 41. An input/outputinterface 45 is connected with an input unit 46 including a key boardand a mouse, and outputs a signal inputted via the input unit 46 to CPU41. Further, the input/output interface 45 is also connected with anoutput unit 47 including a display, a speaker and the like.

Still further, the input/output interface 45 is connected with a storagedevice 48 including a hard disk or the like, and also with acommunication unit 49 which executes data exchange with otherapparatuses (for example, PC 11) via network 3 (see FIG. 1). Drive 50 isused when reading or writing data to and from a recording medium such asmagnetic disc 61, optical disc 62, photo-magnetic disc 63, semiconductormemory 64 and the like.

By way of example, because basic architectures of PC 11 and PC 12 arethe same as that of PC 10, its description is omitted.

In the next, an operation of the LCA system shown in FIG. 1 will bedescribed by referring to FIG. 12 and a flowchart therein. Here, anoperation to be carried out between PC 10 in the head office 1 belongingto the first administration sector and PC 12 in the branch 2 belongingto the second management sector or PC 11 in the branch 2 belonging tothe user sector will be described. In step S1, PC 11 or PC 12(hereinafter, referred to as PC 11 unless PC 12 needs to be identified)upon activation of a predetermined program by instruction from the usercauses an initial display screen (a log-in screen for connecting to theLCA system) as shown in FIG. 13 to be displayed on a display 71 servingas the output unit 47.

The initial screen to be displayed thereon, for example, as shown inFIG. 13, has an input block to input a user ID (employee number or anynumber capable of identifying an individual), a block to input apassword, a button to operate when logging in (OK button), a button tooperate when canceling its log-in, and the like. In case the presentsystem is desired to be used, the user needs to complete a userregistration in advance. By the way, the user ID needs not be limited tothe employee number, but any data that can uniquely identify the userwho requests the log-in may be used.

Because the user ID and the password are not granted if the registrationis not completed (even if the user ID is an employee number, usually thepassword is not granted (not validated until the registration iscompleted)), a new user who accesses for the first time cannot enter hisuser ID and/or password. Even if succeeded to enter, as a result ofauthentication processing in step S11, the user is rejected the use ofthe system (judged as a new user).

Thereby, in a status where at least one of the user ID and the passwordis not entered, if the log-in button is operated, the user who requestedits log-in will be judged to be a new user. Thereby, PC 10 or PC 11, byusing such a method described above, may decide whether or not the useris a new user, in other words, whether or not the user is one who needsa user registration.

By the way, if such a system capable of authenticating each employee(user) is already set up in a company using the LCA system, in otherwords, if such a system capable of authenticating each access to anetwork including the LCA system used in the company is built up, theauthentication may be executed using this system. In the case where suchthe system is introduced, because information of user IDs (employees'numbers), mail addresses, affiliations (departments/sections) the usersbelong to, and the like is controlled as correlated in most cases, suchinformation existing may be used in the processing in the LCA system aswell.

After the user ID and the password have been inputted on the log-inscreen as shown in FIG. 13, if the button “log-in” is operated, thesepieces of information are transmitted to PC 10. In step S11, PC 10executes authentication processing using the information transmitted.The authentication processing is executed by determination whether ornot the user corresponding to the user ID is registered in the mastertable. Further, when the user is registered in the master table, theauthentication processing precedes a determination whether or not thepassword is correct. By the way, the determination whether the passwordis correct or not may be omitted if it is not required, for example, byuse of its own authentication system unique to its organization capableof completing the authentication (of the password). In such a case, itis not required for the side of PC 10 that carries out theauthentication processing as the LCA system to administer the passwords.

Using a result of the authentication processing, it is determined instep S12 whether or not the user who requested a log-in is a user whohas already completed a user registration for using the LCA system andhas been registered. In step S12, if the user who requested log-in wasdetermined not to be a user who is registered, the step proceeds to S13,where a processing for a user registration is executed. This processingfor the user registration will be described in detail later. On theother hand, in step S12, if the user who logged in is determined to be auser who is registered, the step proceeds to S14, in which it isdetermined whether or not the user who logged in is a user who belongsto the first administration sector.

As described hereinabove, PC 10 administers the master table as shown inFIG. 10, thus, by referring to the master table, it can determine anauthorization level (the sector the user belongs to) of the user whologged in. In step S14, if the user who logged in is determined not tobelong to the first administration sector (not the user in theauthorization level 9), the step proceeds to S15 in which it isdetermined whether the user belongs to the second management sector ornot.

In step S15, if the user who logged in is determined not the user whobelongs to the second sector (not the user in the authorization levels 3or 5), because it is assumed that the user is determined to be a user inthe user sector, data for use of a display screen adapted to the userlevel of the user who logged in with reference to the master table issent in step S16.

Likewise, in step S14, if the user who logged in is determined to be auser who belongs to the first administration sector, the processproceeds to S17, in which a display screen data for use by the user whobelongs to the first administration sector is sent. Further, in stepS15, if the user who logged in is determined to be a user who belongs tothe second management (administration) sector, the step proceeds to S18,in which a display screen data for use by the user who belongs to thesecond management sector is sent.

As for the display screen to be sent as described above, items based onthe data in the information on the authorizations, the user division andthe application product categories described in the master table aretransmitted. That is, in this display screen, various considerations aretaken into account such as not to display an access button for accessoperation so that the user is prevented from accessing the informationof the other division outside the division the authenticated userbelongs to.

According to the above-mentioned processing based on the flowchart shownin FIG. 12, it is arranged such that after identifying whether the userwho logged in is registered in the master table as shown in FIG. 10 ornot (the processing in step S12), the sector the user belongs to (usersector) is determined (steps S14, S15), then data of a display screencorresponding to the user who logged in is sent on the basis ofinformation of the product category and the like (steps S16-S18),however, it may be arranged also such that by omitting the processing instep. S14 and step S15 (that is, determination of respective sectors isnot made), data of a display screen corresponding to the user who loggedin is sent on the basis of the authorization, the user division and theproduct category, thereby integrating respective processing from stepS16 to S18 into one processing.

PC 11 displays a display screen based on the display screen datareceived in step S2 on a display 71. This display screen as describedabove is allowed to display only the buttons corresponding to theprocessing or the like the user who logged in can execute, therebyproviding a user-oriented display screen easier to use. Using such adisplay screen, the user can execute a predetermined processing in stepS3. In step S3, for example, the processing the user in the secondmanagement sector executes includes entries of inventory data, aggregatedata and the like. Further, as the processing the user in the usersector executes, there are, for example, entry of the productinformation, calculation of the environmental load, and the like.

By way of example, also in the case where the first administrationsector logs in the LCA system, the same steps as executed by the usersin the second management sector or the user sector are followed,therefore, the description thereof will be omitted.

In the next, the processing of the user registration executed in stepS11 will be described by referring to a flowchart in FIG. 14. As for theprocessing of the user registration, because it is necessary todiscriminate between the first management sector. (PC 10), the secondmanagement sector (PC 12) and the user sector (PC 11), they areindicated separately in the flowchart in FIG. 14. Here, the userregistration will be described by way of example where the user in theuser section (the user of PC 11) requests a user registration.

PC 10, upon starting of the processing of the user registration in stepS13 in the flowchart of FIG. 12, reads out the data on the registrationdisplay screen in step S31, and transmits this display screen data toPC11. PC11, upon receiving of the image data, displays a picture imageon the basis of the image data on a display 71. An exemplaryregistration display screen to be displayed on the display 71 is shownin FIG. 15. On the user registration display screen, at first, a user IDand a name are entered. In case the user ID is an employee's serialnumber, because a division to which the employee belongs can beidentified, it may be arranged so that the block of the division theemployee belongs to is automatically displayed (without inputting by theuser). Of course, it may be arranged so as to be inputted by the user aswell.

The expression “automatically” used in the instant specification isintended to contain a meaning that in accordance with a predeterminedprogram, a predetermined apparatus such as a computer, without dependingon a user's manipulation, executes a predetermined processing when apredetermined event occurs.

Further, when connecting to an in-house (intra or local area) network towhich the LCA system is connected, if an authentication processing forconnecting to the in-house network is done prior to an authenticationprocessing to be executed for using the LCA system, or one serves theother, the information obtained as a result of the authenticationprocessing at the time of connecting to the intra-network may be used aswell. That is, information such as a user ID, the name, a division towhich the user belongs and the like can be specified as the result ofauthentication processing at the time of connection to the network, andthus this information may be displayed in a predetermined area on thedisplay screen for user registration shown in FIG. 15 without troublingthe user.

On the display screen for the user registration shown in FIG. 15, inorder that an electronic mail requesting an approval of a userregistration is sent to the first management sector and the secondmanagement sector by a processing to be described later, and that aresult of approval is sent to the user who requested the userregistration, there is provided a block for entering a mail address ofthe user who requests a user registration.

As for the telephone number, a telephone number of a division to whichthe user belongs is entered. Below the telephone number, an optionmessage “Select a data management division (department)” is displayed.The “data management division” refers to a data management divisionwithin the system that desires to make use thereof. Basically, the usersector to which the user belongs, or the second management division isselected. When the user selects a different sector (data managementdivision) to which the user does not belong, its registration is notbasically permitted by a processing of approval to be described later.

Below the option block of the data management division, there areprovided selection blocks to choose between a regular user and anapprover. The regular user, in this case, refers to a user who belongsto the user sector in the authorization level 1, and the approver refersto a user who belongs to the second management sector in theauthorization level 3.

In step S41, after predetermined information is entered in apredetermined block on the display screen for user registration as shownin FIG. 15, if a button of “to the next” is operated, the informationentered is transmitted to PC 10. By way of an example, when a button of“system end” is operated, the processing of registration is interrupted,and the processing in the flowchart shown in FIG. 14 is terminated.

PC 10, in step S32, transmits data of display screen for selecting(registering) a category. The transmitted display screen data isprocessed by PC 11 to be displayed on the display 71. FIG. 16 shows anexample of display screen for selecting a product category to bedisplayed on the display 71.

Because the data management division of the user is selected on thedisplay screen for user registration shown in FIG. 15, only such productcategories the data management division can register are displayed onthe display screen for registration of product categories shown in FIG.16. Below the data management division (of the user) selected by theuser in the preceding display screen, a message “Select a productcategory to be used, and press a send button” is displayed. Under thismessage, a plurality of choices of the product categories is displayed.In this instance, because only those product categories related to thedivision selected in the option block in the data management division ofthe user is displayed, the display screen is simplified, andinconveniences troubling the user in finding an appropriate category toselect, and erroneously selecting different categories of otherdivisions can be prevented.

The registration until the data management division and the registrationof the product category may be executed in succession as describedhereinabove, however, it may be arranged so as to be executed separately(at a different time) as well. This is for allowing the registeredproduct category to be changed later, in consideration of such a casewhere the user at the time of user registration does not recognize aproper product category the user oneself should register, or in order tocorrespond to such a case where the first management sector considers itbetter to allow for the registration of the product category to beexecuted after the permission of the user registration. In the case theyare executed in succession, it is preferable to provide for a functionto be able to change (alter) or correct at a later time.

When necessary items are inputted on the display screen for registrationof the product category as shown in FIG. 16 and the send button isoperated, the data thereof is transmitted to PC 10 via the network 3. PC10 stores the information entered via the display screen forregistration shown in FIGS. 15 and 16 in the storage device 48 (see FIG.11), and adds the information received related to the user into themaster table as shown in FIG. 10 under management thereof to be storedtherein.

As for the information to be described in the master table, because itrelates to the product category and the authorization level, it ispreferable that, at the time of registration, after judgment if therequest of the user who requested registration is absolutely correct ornot, an actual registration is then executed. Thereby, it may bearranged also such that data related to items necessary for the userregistration is checked by the user in the first management sector orthe second sector, then only a portion thereof judged to belong to theauthorization is executed its registration processing.

That is, a step of temporary registration may be provided, and after thetemporary registration, an actual registration processing (formalregistration) may be executed. Here, a temporary registration is assumedto be executed, and this temporary registration will be described usingthe flowchart of FIG. 14 in the following. When the steps of temporaryregistration are provided, necessary items to be inputted by PC 11 insteps S41 and S42 are information for use of the temporary registration.Data transmitted from PC 11 to PC 10 for the temporary registration isregistered in a list of temporary registration users under management ofPC 10.

While the information of the user who requested a temporary registrationis registered in the list of the temporary registration, an electronicmail is sent to a manager who is responsible, in this case, the user inthe first management sector or the second management sector, notifyingthat there exists a user who submitted a new request of registration.When a user in the user sector requests a user registration, anelectronic mail is sent to the user in the second management sectornotifying the request thereof for the use of the division by the user.Regardless of the division to be used by the user who requested the userregistration, an e-mail is sent to the user in the first managementsector.

In this instance, because the user in the user sector requested the userregistration, e-mails are sent to the users in the first managementsector and the second management sector. The user in the secondmanagement sector, in step S51, browses the e-mails transmitted. Whenthe user in the second sector who received the e-mail acknowledges thatthere exists a user who applied a user registration as a result ofbrowsing the e-mail, executes a processing to log in the LCA system instep S52.

The processing to log in the LCA system to be executed in step S52 isdone in the same manner as the processing in step S1 in the flowchart ofFIG. 12. Further, although omitted in the flowchart of FIG. 14, byexecution of the processing to log in the LCA system in step S52, aseries of processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 12 are executedsequentially. As a result, in this instance, instep S15, it is judged tobe the user in the second management sector that requested the log in,then, in step S18, the data of the display screen for use of the user inthe second management sector is sent. As a result, in step S2, anappropriate display screen suitable for the user who requested the login is displayed on the display 71 of PC 12.

Now, respective display screens to be displayed on the display 71 whenthe users in the first management sector, the second management sectorand the user sector log in will be described. FIGS. 17 to 19 showexemplary display screens (display screens displayed as a processing ofstep S2) to be displayed when the users in the first management sector,the second management sector or the user sector access the LCA system,and approval thereof is completed. FIG. 17 shows an example of displayscreen to be displayed when the user in the first management sectorlogged in.

In FIG. 17, in upper portion thereof, a message is displayed. In thismessage, items desired to be notified concurrently to the users in thefirst management sector, for example, schedule information such as dateand time of meetings, are displayed. Items displayed on the left-handside in FIG. 17, first of all, in an upper section thereof, buttonsindicating names of divisions are displayed. In this case, three buttonsfor three divisions of “Div. X”, “Div. Y” and “Div. Z” are displayed. Ofthese buttons, product categories related to any one of the buttons thatis operated are displayed below the buttons. In the lower portion of alist of the product categories, a button of “product information toupdate” and a button of “product information change/list” are displayed.

The button of “product information to update” is a button to be operatedwhen new product information is desired to be added and registered, andthe button of “product information change/list” is a button to beoperated when the product information already registered is desired tobe changed or when the product information already registered is desiredto be displayed in a list.

In FIG. 17, items displayed on the right-hand side thereof are a buttonof “inventory to update”, a button of “change/list inventory” and abutton of “generates a aggregate data”. In the lower portion thereof,there are displayed 4 buttons of “add/change product category”, Menusfor managers, and “end”.

The button of “inventory to update” is a button to be operated when anew inventory data is desired to be added and registered, the button of“change/list the inventory” is a button to be operated when theinventory data already registered is desired to be changed or when theinventory data registered is desired to be displayed in a list, and thebutton of “generate a aggregate data” is a button to be operated when aaggregate data is to be generated using the inventory data alreadyregistered and the like.

The button of “add/change a product category” is a button to be operatedwhen the product category is desired to be altered (changed) such as toadd a new one or delete, the button of “menu for the managers” is abutton to be operated when a processing committed to the manager isdesired to be executed, which will be described later, and the button of“end the system” is a button to be operated when use of this LCA systemis desired to be stopped.

As described above, the user in the first management sector manages thewhole data to be handled in the system. Thereby, as described above, onthe left-hand side of the drawing there are displayed the buttons forhandling the whole data of the whole divisions, and on the right-handside thereof there are displayed the buttons for handling the inventorydata and aggregate data.

FIG. 18 shows an example of display screen to be displayed to the userin the second management sector when the user (in this case one whobelongs to division X) logged in. For the user in the second managementsector, it is displayed in such manner that the user can handle only thedata of the division to which the user belongs. Thereby, in the exampleshown in FIG. 18, only the product categories related to the division Xare displayed on the left-hand side of the drawing.

Further, when the button of “change/list product information” isoperated, it is controlled so that only the product information relatedto the division X is displayed. Still further, the three buttonsdisplayed on the right-hand side of the drawing are the same buttons asdisplayed in FIG. 17 when the user who belongs to the first managementsector logged in, however, when the user in the first management sectoroperated (on the display screen shown in FIG. 17), the whole inventorydata and the whole aggregate data are displayed as an object ofprocessing, but when the user who belongs to the second managementsector operated (on the display screen shown in FIG. 18), in thisinstance, a limited inventory data and aggregate data relating only tothe division X are displayed as an object of processing.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example of display screen to bedisplayed to the user who belongs to the user sector in an authorizationlevel 1 (in this instance, the user who belongs to division X). The userwho belongs to the user sector is only allowed to handle the data of thedivision the user belongs to, and of the product categories the user isregistered in advance. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 19, of the productcategories related to the division X, only the product categories theuser is registered in advance are displayed.

Further, all the buttons related to the inventory data and aggregatedata such as “inventory to update”, “change/list the inventory”, and“generate aggregate data” which are displayed on the display screen(FIGS. 17, 18) for the user who belongs to the first management sectoror the second management sector, are not displayed at all. This isbecause that as described above, the authorization level of the user whobelongs to the user sector is 1 or 3 (see FIG. 6), and at thisauthorization levels, it is not permitted to handle the inventory dataand the aggregate data, and thereby, there is no need to display suchbuttons for handling the inventory data.

However, for the user at the authorization level 3, who is granted aprivilege to overview the aggregate data, at least the button of“change/list the inventory” or the like is displayed on the displayscreen for use of the user in the authorization level 3 in addition tothe display screen for the user at the authorization level 1.

The display screen to be displayed after the log in and theauthentication processing was executed is caused to display only theitems related to the data the user who logged in can handle, thereby,such a trouble can be prevented that a person who does not haveauthorization executes the processing to change or delete the datainadvertently. Further, because only the items related to those that areallowed to process are displayed, the arrangement of the display screencan be simplified easy to observe, hence improving user-friendliness.

Such an instance when the user selects a desired processing from thedisplay screens from FIGS. 17 to 19 will be described in the following.Now, back to the description of the flowchart in FIG. 14, the processingrelated to the user registration will be described. When the user in thesecond management sector recognizes existence of a user who requestedapproval of user registration by browsing e-mails, and logs in the LCAsystem, a display screen as shown in FIG. 18 is displayed on the display71 of PC 12 at that user.

On the display screen for use of the user in the second managementsector, three buttons are provided in the lower portion of the displayscreen. Of these three buttons, the button of “menu for managers' isoperated in step S53. This button of menu for managers' is displayedonly on the display screen such as one shown in FIG. 17 for the user inthe second management sector and for the user in the first managementsector who has authorization to manage the user in the user sector, andanother one shown in FIG. 18 for the user in the second managementsector who has authorization to manage the user in the user sector.

When the button of “menu for managers” is operated, the display screenis switched to a display screen as shown in FIG. 20. On the menu for themanagers, there are provided such buttons as “register a new user”,“approve a product category”, manage the user”, “change the message”,“add/change a manufacturing division”, “add/change document name”,“change the mail address”, and “return”. Among these buttons, whenexecuting approval of the user registration, a button of “register a newuser” is operated. When the button of “register a new user” is operated,the screen is switched to a display screen as shown in FIG. 21.

A display screen shown in FIG. 21 indicates an instance where two usersrequest user registration. Items displayed here include “user ID”, “username”, “authorization”, “division to be used”, “department/section theuser belongs to”, “product category”, “mail address”, “phone number”,“extension number” and “date of request”. Of these items, informationentered or selected by the user as a temporary registration using thedisplay screens as shown in FIG. 15 or 16 are displayed, respectively.

In the lower portion of the display screen, buttons such as “register”,“delete”, “search”, “print” and “return” are provided. When the buttonof “register” or “delete” is operated, the user information which ischecked in a check box provided on the left side of “user ID” isaddressed to as an object of its operation. The user in the secondmanagement sector, by referring to the information displayed, checks thecheck box of the user who is judged eligible for registration, andoperates the button of “register”. Further, when the user is judged noteligible for registration, the check box for the user thus judged ischecked, and then the button of “delete” is operated.

When the button of “register” is operated, its associated information istransmitted to PC 10, and in step S34, a formal registration processingis executed. The processing of the formal registration is executed bycausing the user information newly approved of its user registration tobe written into the master table under management of PC 10. Aftercompletion of the formal registration, the user who requested theregistration is allowed to use the LCA system within an extent havingbeen approved. Also, a function to notify the user of its permission touse via e-mail may be provided as one of the processing at the time ofregistration.

In FIG. 21, when a user name is clicked, information related to theproduct categories the user requested registration is displayed. Theinformation related to the product category is also displayed in a boxof item of “product category” in FIG. 21; however, the item displayed inthis box is only a single category.

In case the user requested registration of only one category, thissingle category will be displayed, however, in case the user requestedregistration of a plurality of categories, a single representativecategory is displayed with a mark such as prefixed or suffixedindicating a plurality of registration being requested. When such a markis displayed, the user who determines whether to grant the userregistration or not, clicks the user name so as to be able to review theinformation related to product categories.

The user who judges whether or not to approve the user registration byclicking the user name and reviewing the product categories, examines ifonly those categories that are permitted of its use are checked. If sucha category that is not permitted of its use is checked within theproduct categories the user checked requesting registration thereof, theuser who judges whether or not to approve the user registration canremove the check therein, alternately, if use of another category thatis not checked in the request of registration is desired to bepermitted, the user who judges can enter a check mark in this category.

When the product categories have been checked, and the button of“register” (FIG. 21) is operated as described above, the formalregistration is executed in PC 10. In FIG. 21, a button of “search” is abutton to be operated when a predetermined user is desired to besearched from within the users who newly requested registration. Abutton of “print” is a button to be operated when a list of users whonewly requested registration is desired to be printed. When a button of“return” is operated, the display screen returns to the screen shown inFIG. 20.

In the menu for use by the managers shown in FIG. 20, buttons other thanthe button of “register a new user will be described. A button of“approve a product category” is a button to be operated when the user,who is already registered, therefore, who has completed registration ofproduct categories that can be used, requested a change (to add, deleteor the like) in the product categories, and when a process to judgewhether or not to approve the request is to be executed.

Because the information to be used in the LCA system is top secretinformation, also the user registration including browsing and usableproduct categories is restricted not to be executed without approval ofthe manager. Therefore, an addition to or a change in the productcategories after completion of the user registration is required not tobe executed without approval of the manager as well. Thereby, theaddition or change in the product categories is executed by the sameprocessing as that in the request of the user registration describedabove.

In the display screen, as shown in FIG. 19, for the user in the usersector, when the button of “add/change the product category” isoperated, the information of its operation is transmitted to PC 10. PC10 sends a display screen for use in selection of category likewise, forexample, the processing in step S32 in the flowchart of FIG. 14. Thedisplay screen to be sent is such a display screen (not shown) on whichthe product category which was registered by the user (allowed to use)has a check mark.

On this display screen, when a user in the user level enters necessaryitems and operates a send button (not shown) (a process corresponding tothe processing in step S42), a mail is sent on PC 10. Transmission ofthis mail is executed in the same manner as the processing in step S33in the flowchart of FIG. 14. In the same manner as the processing insubsequent steps to follow step S33, the processing of approval ofchanges such as addition and the like with respect to the productcategories is executed. As described above, by arranging such that alsofor the product categories, its change or the like must have approval ofthe manager, it is ensured to prevent a leak of top secret informationto outside.

Back to the description of the buttons on the display screen shown inFIG. 20, the button of “management of the user” is a button to beoperated when management of the users who are registered in the LCAsystem is desired to be executed. The management of the users isexecuted, for example, by prompting the users who do not use the LCAsystem for a predetermined period of time after registration to deletethe registration (by searching such users for prompting), and bycarrying out maintenance of the product categories and authorizations inaccordance with transfer of the users. When the button of “management ofusers” is operated, the screen of display 71 is switched to a displayscreen as shown in FIG. 22.

A search screen shown in FIG. 22 is arranged to enable to searchinformation under such conditions as “user ID”, “user name”,“authorization”, “division to be used”, “name of division”, “where theuser belongs to”, product category”, “last logged in date”, and “lastupdating date”. If one or more conditions out of these search conditionsare set up and the button of “search” is operated, a search is executedon the basis of these conditions set up, and its result is displayed inthe lower portion of the screen. In the example of FIG. 22, one data isdisplayed as the data that coincided with the search conditions.

When a user registration displayed as a result of this search operationis desired to be deleted, a button of “delete” provided in the lowerportion of the screen is operated. In FIG. 22, although an exampleprovided with three buttons of “delete”, “print”, “return” is indicated,it is not limited thereto, and other buttons may be provided as well.For example, a button of “send a mail” may be provided so as toimplement a function to be able to send a mail to the user who is anobject of deletion, notifying its consequence prior to deletion of theregistration.

Back to the description of the display screen for use by the managersshown in FIG. 20, a button of “change the message” is a button to beoperated when a message to be displayed in the upper portion of thedisplay screen shown in FIGS. 17 to 19 is desired to be changed. Abutton of “add/change the manufacturing division” is operated, forexample, in FIG. 23 to be described later, when a select item to bedisplayed in a pull-down menu from an item of “division” in an item of“subject” is desired to be added or changed.

A button of “add/change a document name” is operated on a display screento be described later, for example, in FIG. 24, when a select item to bedisplayed in a pull-down menu from an item of “document type” in a boxof “citation” is desired to be added or changed. A button of “change amailing address” is a button to be operated when a mailing address ofthe mail to be transmitted in step S33 in the flowchart of FIG. 14 isdesired to be changed. A button of “return” is a button to be operatedwhen returning to a previous display screen (for example, the displayscreen shown in FIG. 17).

A processing in step S3 in the flowchart of FIG. 12 will be nowdescribed. FIGS. 23 and 24 are diagrams showing examples of displayscreens to be displayed on the display 71 as a result that the user inthe first management sector logs in, and in a status of the displayscreen shown in FIG. 17 being on display, when the user, who desires togenerate an inventory data as a desired processing, operates the buttonof “inventory to update”. The display screen shown in FIG. 23 and thedisplay screen shown in FIG. 24 are a screen that constitutes one frameof display, and a desired portion thereof can be viewed by scrolling orthe like.

The display screen shown in FIG. 23 is a header portion common to thedisplay screen for entering inventory data, and is a portion in whichthe information as to the user who inputs data, and the information asto the product to be entered are displayed. In the header portion, atfirst, “data management division”, “last updating date”, and“information of data generator” are displayed, however, these pieces ofinformation are information that is updated without troubling the userat the time when this display screen is displayed. The reason thesepieces of information (information related to the user who logged in)that are updated are displayed is because that the result ofauthentication carried out at the time of log-in is reflected.

Use or non-use of aggregation (a flag to use aggregate data) is enabledto be selectable, and when the use of aggregation is selected, it isdisplayed in a pull-down in other inventory data to be selectable, andif its use is selected, the inventory data will be reflected on asubsequent aggregation processing, and if its non-use is selected,non-display is caused in the pull-down of other inventory data, and theinventory data is not reflected on the subsequent aggregationprocessing.

In a stage of a data division, a life cycle stage of the productinformation is enabled to be selected in a menu of pull-down format.Now, this stage will be described by referring to FIG. 25. As its lifecycle stages, there are set up seven stages of “structure information”,“manufacture information”, “maintenance”, “the other than manufacture”,“use/standby”, “transport”, and “disposal/recycle”.

In the stage of “structure information”, structures of materials andparts are inputted. In the stage of “manufacture information”, productmanufacturing information is inputted. In the stage of “maintenance”,information of parts in need of replacement due to deterioration with anelapse of time of operation is inputted. In the stage of “the other thanmanufacture”, information of a packaging substrate, yield of the productand the like is inputted.

In the stage of “in-use/at-standby”, information of the product in astatus of use, for example, electric power consumption at use or thelike, and that while at standby are inputted. In the stage of“transport”, information of the product during transportation (forexample, from a factory to a sales shop, and from the sales shop to adumping site or the like) is inputted. In the stage of“disposal/recycle”, information of the product while it is disposedand/or recycled is inputted.

Although the present embodiment will be described by way of example ofthe above-mentioned seven stages, however, it is not limited thereto,and there may be set up more stages than these seven stages.

Back to the description of the example of display in the header portionshown in FIG. 23, the example of display shown in FIG. 23 indicates aninstance where “structure information” is selected in a stage of thedata division. A “product category” displayed immediately below the datadivision is a column for selecting a related product category whenentering the product information, and is enabled to choose in a menu ofa pull-down format. Likewise, “application category” enables to choosean application category by a menu in a pull-down format.

“Subject” is a column for entering a name of the product and the likewhich is an object of processing. A “name” in the “subject” column is ablock for entering a name (title) of the product information to beinputted. A “conventional name” and “chemical formula” are provided forlimiting the product that may have a different name other than the namewhich is conventionally used in the production site, or entered in thecolumn of “name”, or to differentiate a product that uses differentmaterials though their names are alike or the same. “Division (businesssector)”, “production site”, and “destination of product” are providedfor limiting the place where the subject matter is produced or the like.

“Quantity” is a block to enter a value depending on a “unit”, and theuser inputs a desired value on the basis of a unit (the user has chosen)displayed in the box of the unit. In the example of display shown inFIG. 23, it indicates an inventory data of electric power at 1 kWh.

The user, by choosing a unit, in the unit the user desires, can input aquantity, however, the inventory data 21 or aggregate data 22 sometimesmust refer to other data as described above, and if these data aremanaged in different units, at the time when referring to these data, aprocessing to convert the units is required. Thereby, on the user side,even if the user can input a quantity using a desired unit, whenprocessing the data thus inputted, the user will have to manage(process) the data by coordinating the units, or by converting the unitsappropriately as required.

Thereby, when managing the data, they will be managed in unified units,for example, weighing gauge in kg, volumetric system in m3, area gaugein m2, length gauge in m, calorific quantity in MJ. Using these units asa basic unit, a variable processing may be executed as required.

“Distribution percentage” is inputted depending on a product and asrequired. “Main class” and “subclass” are boxes-to choose from within amenu what class the name entered in the box of “name” belongs to, and inthe example of display shown in FIG. 23, it is indicated that the mainclass of electric power is energy, and subclass thereof is electricpower.

An example of display shown in FIG. 24 is a portion depending on theinformation of the header portion shown in FIG. 23. In a column of“input”, in this instance, data of materials and energy to be inputtedin order to generate 1 kWh of electricity is entered, and in a column of“output”, data of carbon dioxide and the like to be outputted other thanthe electricity as a result of generation of 1 kWh of electricity isentered. In a column of “the others”, additional data such as acalorific value and the like to be inputted and outputted in actualprocessing other than the materials are entered. By entering these datasuch as calorific values and the like, in aggregation processing, atotal calorific value can be calculated.

In the columns of “input”, “output” and “the others”, “items of class”,“subclass”, “name”, “mean value”, “unit”, “upper limit”, “lower limit”,“citation” and “remarks” are provided, respectively. In a block of“class”, a main class is selected, and depending on this selected mainclass, an option of “subclass” is determined, then this option isdisplayed in a pull-down menu format.

“Name.” is also arranged to be selected from an option menu to bedisplayed in a pull-down format, and its option menu to be displayeddepends on “class” and/or “subclass”. “Mean value” is inputted of itsvalue by the user. “Unit” is selected an appropriate unit fitted to“mean value” entered. “Upper limit”, “lower limit” and “remarks” areentered as required.

In a column of “citation”, a number (No.) corresponding to a documentcited as a reference described in the block of the citation in thelowest portion of the display screen shown in FIG. 24 is entered. Inthis instance, only one document is described in “citation” block, andNo. 1 is allocated to this document, thereby, “1” is described in theblock of “citation”.

The reason for the provision of “citation” and “data quality, et al.” isbecause that as the life cycle assessment (LCA) is a value calculatedunder given conditions, these conditions need to be clarified. Thereby,by providing the columns of “data quality, et al.” and “citation”, it isenabled to record these data therein indicating in detail under whatconditions, from where and when they are obtained.

In the next, a display screen for use by the user in the secondmanagement sector when producing inventory data is shown in FIGS. 26 and27. The display screen as shown in FIGS. 26 and 27 is displayed when thebutton of “inventory to update” is operated from the display screen foruse of the user in the second management sector shown in FIG. 18. Weassume here that the division that uses the display screen forgenerating the inventory data shown in FIGS. 26 and 27 is a divisionthat manages the production of television receivers. Items to bedisplayed in a header portion shown in FIG. 26 are the same as those inthe header portion shown in FIG. 23.

However, in the header portion shown in FIG. 26, because it is thedivision that manages production of television receivers, “TV” in a boxof “data management division”, “TV” in a box of “product category”, and“mechanical” in a box of “application category are displayed (selected),respectively. Further, “remote control” in a box of “name” in a columnof “subject”, “raw material” in a box of “main class”, and “compositepart” in a box of “subclass” are displayed, respectively.

In a portion shown in FIG. 27, items to be displayed therein are thesame as those in the portion shown in FIG. 24. However, in the portionshown in FIG. 27, information depending on the information in the headerportion of FIG. 26 is displayed. Options to be displayed when enteringitems such as “input”, “output” and “the others” in the portion shown inFIG. 27 include, as an object of selection, in this instance, both ofthe inventory data under management of the first management sector andan inventory data under management of a division in the secondmanagement sector, in this case, the division that manufacturestelevision receivers.

Subsequently, the aggregate data will be described. When the inventorydata is updated by the user in the first management sector or by theuser in the second management sector, a set of aggregate data isgenerated. As for the aggregate data, a set of aggregate data for theinventory data with a flag indicating “use” of the aggregate dataattached is generated for each management division (per each division ofthe second management sector), and each set of the aggregate data thusgenerated is managed by a version number assigned thereto.

As a respective set of the aggregate data is designated of its versionnumber, the user in the user sector can decide an appropriate set ofaggregate data to be used in the calculation of the environmental load.FIGS. 28 and 29 show examples of displays of aggregate data generated.Items of display in the header portion shown in FIG. 28 are the sameitems of display as those in the header portion shown in FIG. 23 or 26.

In the header portion shown in FIG. 28, because it is an example ofdisplays of aggregate data, “aggregation” is indicated in the“inventory/aggregation” box. Further, in the box of “aggregate version”,“TV-0001” and a version number are indicated. This version number, uponexecution of a processing such as updating, is changed, for example, to“TV-0002”.

A display portion shown in FIG. 29 is a portion depending on theinformation of the header portion shown in FIG. 28, and in thisinstance, a aggregate data on the remote controller of the televisionreceivers as the structure information is displayed.

The aggregate data, upon its generation, without releasing (holding backdisclosure to the user in the user sector), maybe used as a test versionas well. The aggregate data generated is used at first, for example, asthe test version to be used only within a division involved in themanufacture of the television receivers, then, is disclosed to the usersector at an appropriate timing or the like. This can be managed on thebasis of the aggregate version number.

Calculation of the environmental load using the aggregate data will bedescribed. As to the environmental load, a program is provided for eachstage of the life cycle, and by allowing the user to input data inaccordance with a predetermined display screen so that the processing isexecuted in accordance with the program, the calculation proceeds. Aprogram for calculating the environmental load calculates anenvironmental load mainly by executing three processing. Firstly, aaggregate data necessary for calculation is selected from the database,secondly, a numerical value for each item of the environmental load iscalculated from the quantities inputted as the product information, andthirdly, a numerical value summed up for each item of the environmentalload is displayed on an LCA result display screen.

Selection of the aggregate data is executed by searching and extractinga flag attached in advance to the inventory data. In the following, aseries of processing from inputting of the product information tocalculation of the environmental load will be described. Here, thedescription will be made by way of example assuming that the user in theuser level involved in the manufacture of television receivers carriesout the processing.

In the present embodiment, a display screen for inputting productinformation is comprised of seven display screens of “basicinformation”, “structure information” “manufacture information”, “theother than manufacture” “in-use/at-standby”, “transportation”, and“disposal/recycle”.

As described hereinabove, as a preliminary procedure prior to browsingsuch display screens for inputting the product information, the usercarries out a processing of log-in, as a result, because anauthorization level and a division the user belongs to are judged, adisplay screen on which only related information determined on the basisof this judgment is displayed. This can prevent a leak of information tothe users in other management divisions as well as improve ease-to-usecapability by holding back from providing useless information to theusers observing the display screens.

FIG. 30 is a display screen for inputting data related to the “basicinformation”. Using this display screen for the basic information, basicinformation such as a product name and the like is inputted.“Registration number” is to be attached automatically, and its numberuses a serial number attached to a product category name. In the boxesof “entered by”, “person authorized to change” and “approved by” areentered (displayed) a name, employee number and the like. The personauthorized to change and an approver are users involved in theprocessing described above with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8.

“Assessment timing” is a box to enter a period of time the assessment iscarried out. In the case of a new entry, “assessment timing” may beindicated as “a time when an object is set”. To describe the assessmenttiming further, in the present embodiment, even for the same product,plural LCA assessments at a different timing are enabled. This isbecause that in a life span of a product from its development, a massproduction, to a model change post the mass production, environmentalassessments at respective timing is required.

FIG. 31 is a diagram showing a display screen for inputting data relatedto “structure information”. On this display screen, “materials/parts”,namely, aggregate data is designated, and a “quantity of use” isinputted. Using the designated aggregate data, and in accordance withthe quantity of use inputted, an environmental load volume iscalculated.

In order to prevent for the option menu display from becoming enormous(to prevent for the items displayed in a pull-down format from becomingenormous), the aggregate data is sorted into tables of “applicationcategory” and “material/parts category in advance. When the user.(design engineer or the like) selects (decides) the “applicationcategory and the “material/parts category”, only names of aggregate datasorted out from these categories are displayed as options in a column of“material/part”.

In the column of “application”, a design engineer can input datadirectly, and attach a name easy to identify by the engineer whendisplaying an LCA result. Further, on the input display screen of the“structure information”, there are provided blocks for a measured valueof “gross weight”, a summed up value of “gross weight”, and “grossweight reduction ratio”. In these blocks, there are provided columns for“target value”, “current”, “previous”, and “comments”, respectively.

For the measured value of the gross weight, a value actually measured isinputted, and for the summed up value of the gross weight, a value addedup on data, on the basis of the data inputted is displayed. The grossweight reduction ratio is a value in percentage obtained by dividing themeasured value of the gross weight by a target value.

FIG. 32 is a diagram showing a display screen for inputting “manufactureinformation”. On this display screen, “manufacturing division” and“manufacturing process name” are selected, and a quantity to use” isinputted. Using a aggregate data instructed, a quantity of theenvironmental load corresponding to the inputted quantity of use iscalculated. Further, by sorting the aggregate data on a table of abusiness operator in advance, only the names of sorted out aggregatedata are displayed in a column of “manufacturing process name”corresponding to a “manufacturing division name” selected by the designengineer.

FIG. 33 is a diagram showing a display screen for inputting informationrelated to “the other than manufacture”. The “the other thanmanufacture” is provided to supplement data that cannot be calculated inthe “structure information” described with reference to FIG. 31 or the“manufacture information” described with reference to FIG. 32. Anexample of display screen shown in FIG. 32 indicates an example ofapproximating an environmental load volume at the time of manufacturingpackaging substrates. On a packaging substrate, ICs (IntegratedCircuits) and devices that have large energy consumption at the time ofmanufacture thereof are mounted.

In the “structure information”, although an environmental load volumeresulting from its materials (such as silicon, copper and the like) iscalculated, the other environmental load volume due to energyconsumption at the time of manufacturing the same is not taken intoaccount. Thereby, on the display screen of “the other than manufacture”,an environmental load volume due to energy consumption at manufacturingis approximated from a statistic data, and supplemented.

A method of approximation in this instance can be selected from a “costbasis” and a “part basis”. When the cost basis is selected, aggregatedata for a cost basis calculation are specified, and its environmentalload value is calculated from a total cost of the packaging substratesinputted.

When the part basis is selected, a quantity of parts is required to beinputted for each part displayed. Then, using aggregate data of eachpart, an environmental load volume corresponding to the values inputtedis calculated. Here, by presetting parts to be displayed for eachproduct category, user-friendliness can be enhanced.

By the way, the name of part to be displayed at a place of the partbasis (IC in this instance in FIG. 33) depends on the productinformation (product category), and transistor, resistance and the likeother than IC may also be displayed. Further, the name of part to bedisplayed at the place of the part basis is not limited to one, and aplurality of names may be displayed. A box to input a quantity isprovided corresponding to the name of part displayed.

FIG. 34 is a diagram showing a display screen for inputting informationrelated to “transportation”. As described with reference to FIG. 30,because “production site” and “destination of product” are inputted atthe time of inputting “basic information”, from this information,aggregate data are specified. Thereby, the user is only required toinput a volume of the product. A basic unit of the inventory data is,for example, data per volume of the product.

FIG. 35 is a diagram showing a display screen for inputting informationrelated to “in use/in standby”. As the information of “in use/standby”,first of all, a power source must be specified. In an example of displayscreen shown in FIG. 35, an instance where “television (Japan)” isselected is indicated. Corresponding to a power supply constructionselected, a value inputting column is displayed. The user (designengineer) is required only to input a value in accordance with the valueinputting column displayed. An electric power is calculated from thevalue inputted, and an environmental load volume corresponding to thiselectric power is calculated.

FIG. 36 is a diagram showing a display screen for inputting informationrelated to the “disposal/recycle”. The design engineer can choosedisposal or recycle. In accordance with this selection, itsenvironmental load volume is programmed for calculation. In case thedisposal is selected, its environmental load volume is calculated by thefollowing equation.Environmental load volume=load quantity (volume) due to transportationof wastes+load quantity due to incineration+load quantity by dumping.

An environmental load volume due to transportation of wastes iscalculated from a product weight calculated with “structureinformation”, and using aggregate data of wastes transportation. Theenvironmental load volumes due to incineration and dumping are obtainedfrom “destination of products” inputted at “basic information”, and byobtaining a weight ratio of incineration and dumping which are preset byreferring to a look-up table prepared in advance. For example, if the“destination of products” is Japan, 80% by incineration and 20% bydumping are assumed.

From the “structure information”, using the material/part category, agross weight of the combustible (for example, paper, woods and the like)and a gross weight of the others (non-combustible materials such asmetals and the like) are summed up. Assuming that a weight portion ofthe total of the combustible weight obtained by multiplying with theincineration ratio is to be incinerated, using this aggregate data ofincineration, its environmental load is calculated. Assuming the otherweight portion to be allocated to dumping, the environmental load iscalculated using aggregate data of the dumping.

If recycle is selected, the environmental load volume is calculated bythe following equation.Environmental load volume=load quantity due to transportation of recyclearticle+load quantity due to recycle processing

The environmental load volume due to transportation of recycle articlesis calculated from the product weight inputted on the display screen of“structure information”, using aggregate data of the recycletransportation. At the time of recycle processing, from the “structureinformation”, respective weights of recycle weights (for example, ofglass, metals and the like) are summed up. Using these weights and theaggregate data of respective recycle processing, the environmental loadvolume is calculated.

Further, as for the recycle, an environmental load volume comparisonvalue with a virgin material (hereinafter referred to as a gain) isdisplayed. Here, using aggregate data for calculating a gain of thevirgin material prepared in advance, a difference between the aggregatedata of recycle processing calculated earlier and the aggregate data forcalculating the gain is calculated and displayed.

By inputting respective data on the display screens describedhereinabove by referring to FIGS. 30–36, a final environmental loadvolume is calculated (a result of LCA is displayed). FIGS. 37 to 40 arediagrams showing LCA result display screens.

It is taken into account so that the LCA result display screen isenabled to sum up (aggregate) not only a gross amount of a respectiveenvironmental load item, but also to aggregate in a large range as wellas in a minute range thereof. Firstly, as shown in FIG. 37, items thatcan be displayed as a result of LCA are displayed. In an example shownin FIG. 37, items such as summary”, “carbon dioxide emission”, “energyconsumption”, “resources consumption” and “the others” are indicated asthe items that can be displayed.

When the user selects the item of “summary” on the display screen asshown in FIG. 37, the screen is switched to a display screen as shown inFIG. 38. On the screen of the summary, a total amount of a respectiveenvironmental load item per respective assessment timing is displayed.

When the item of “carbon dioxide emission” is selected out of respectiveenvironmental load items such as “carbon dioxide emission”, “energyconsumption”, “resources consumption” and the like, the screen isswitched to a display screen as shown in FIG. 39. A display screen to bedisplayed according to a respective environmental load item (a screen ofthe carbon dioxide emission in an example shown in FIG. 39) is furtherdivided into two portions of display one for respective life cyclestages and another for detailed display within each life cycle stage.

By the way, the example of display shown in FIG. 39 displays only aportion thereof, in such a case, the user can observe the other portionnot being displayed by scrolling the screen or the like.

Further, it is also possible to calculate and display information usefulto the environmental assessment other than the environmental load, andwhen the item of “the others” is selected, the screen is switched to adisplay screen as shown in FIG. 40, so as to calculate and display“amount of recycle materials used”, “amount of recyclable materials” and“amount of wastes”.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the description is made by way ofexample of a case where the user involved in the manufacture oftelevision receivers carries out processing, in the next, thedescription will be made by way of example of a case where the user isin the user sector and is involved in the manufacture of MD (Mini Disc:Trade Name). A product information input screen for allowing a designengineer in MD development division to input product information iscomprised of 6 display screens of “basic information”, “structureinformation”, “manufacture information”, “the other than manufacture”,“transport” and “disposal/recycle”.

In the present embodiment, the life cycle stage corresponding to theproduct category displays only a necessary stage. The input screen ofthe “in-use/at-standby” displayed as the product information inputscreen in the television receivers is not displayed as it is notnecessary in the MD (MD itself does not consume energy in a status ofin-use or at-standby, thereby its display is not necessary).

The “basic information”, “manufacture information”, “transport”,“disposal/recycle” displayed on the product information input displayscreen to be used by the user involved in the manufacture of the MD arethe same in principle with the display screen the user who manages theabove-mentioned television receivers refers to, thereby, the descriptionthereof is omitted.

FIG. 41 is a diagram showing a display screen for inputting “structureinformation” within the product information display screen the userinvolved in the manufacture of MD refers to. A name of aggregate data tobe displayed in a column of “materials/parts” can be handled by 3 kindsof names of “name”, “conventional name” and “chemical formula”. This isbecause that a material such as an organic substance may be called by aplurality of names, thereby in order to prevent for the design engineerto error in his/her selection” they are described in juxtaposition. Itis further arranged such that the use can choose one of these threetypes to be displayed in preference thereby enhancing ease-to-use by theuser.

Further, by provision of a host and subordinate relation between productcategories, it is enabled to call up product information as a key partdirectly. As shown in FIG. 41, when inputting the structure informationas MD, by selecting “key parts” in “application category”, and selectingthe product information of MD recording medium from the names ofproducts displayed, it is enabled to call up the product informationhaving been entered as an MD recording medium separately as linkedtherewith. By arranging as described above, it is enabled for thoseparts that are manufactured at different sites to be calculated of theirtotal environmental load volume as the whole product, without efforts toacquire the product information and re-enter the same.

FIG. 42 is a diagram showing a display screen for inputting informationrelated to the “the other than manufacture” within the productinformation input display screen which the user involved in themanufacture of MD refers to “The other than manufacture” complementsitems that cannot be calculated only with the “structure information”and the “manufacture information”. Here, calculation of theenvironmental load volume taking into account a product yield will bedescribed. Among the products, there are such ones that have a lowproduct yield, and their actual environmental load volume is larger thanthat of the materials used in actual products and energy consumed. Byinputting product yields as to these products, correction of calculatedresults of the “structure information” and “manufacture information” iscarried out.

A calculation result obtained from “structure information” and “productinformation” by inputting the product yield into the input columnthereof is divided by the product yield. Further, amount of wastes isdivided by disposed products and is displayed on the LCA result.

The product information generated as described above can be searched viaa list, search display screen (not shown). After displaying a list onthe display screen and specifying a desired data, by operating buttonsof a display, alter (change), copy, change of assessment timing and thelike, the following processing is allowed to be executed.

By specifying desired product information on the list, search displayscreen, and depressing an assessment timing up-button, it is enabled togenerate product information of the same product having differentassessment timing. As for the registration number, by providing aninterlocking mechanism to interlock, for example, the last two digits ofnumber thereof with an assessment period of time, a differentiation fromupdate product information or the like can be ensured. Further, productinformation and LCA result immediately preceding thereto are displayedalong new data for facilitating comparison with each other.

To supplement the description of the product category described above,because all of the respective inventory data, aggregate data and productinformation are managed under each product category, it becomes possibleto construct a system that does not depend on the organization. Further,because all the users in the system are registered in an authorizationechelon according to each product category, operation within theorganization such as of generation of data, change and deletion thereof,request of product data, registration thereof is enabled.

As hereinabove described, if the LCA is calculated according to thepresent invention, by provision of the authorization levels, inadvertentprocessing such as erroneous editing or deletion of the inventory dataand aggregate data can be prevented thereby facilitating management aswell as improving the reliability of the data. Further, because thedisplay screen to be displayed to the user changes depending on theauthorization level, a screen arrangement is limited absolutely to theitems that are indispensable to the user, thereby improving theuser-friendliness.

By application of the present invention as described hereinabove, withinthe organization handling a plurality of products, by checkingenvironmental data of the products within daily activities quickly whileconstantly checking conditions and reliability of data, theenvironmental load assessment can be performed. Still further, byapplication of the present invention, not only a highly reliable LCAdata can be provided quickly, but also it can be operated speedily evenamong complicated and interrelated product manufacturing divisionswithin the organization.

In the embodiment described hereinabove, in the case the informationprocessing system shown in FIG. 1 (LCA system) exists in oneorganization, it is described that the head office 1 is the divisionthat has authorization to manage the whole system, and the branches 2-1to 2-N are divisions different from the head office 1, i.e., respectivefactories or the like. Further, in the case the LCA system is comprisedof a plurality of organizations, it is described that the head office 1corresponds to company A, and branches 2-1 to 2-N correspond tocompanies B . . . , et al., different from the company A.

Further, when calculating the environmental load volume according to theembodiment described above, it is described to be calculated using theinventory data, the aggregate data and the LCA result, however, in thestage of calculation (generation) of these data (result) itself, variousdata pertaining to various materials and parts are used for generationthereof. For example, the inventory data, as described above, is thedata which indicates the relation between the input of individualmaterials/parts and the output thereof, therefore, the data related toindividual materials and parts are required at the stage of generatingthe inventory data.

The work to collect and process these data related to the individualmaterials and parts by the users in the first management sector and/orthe second management sector is a time-consuming task because it isversatile and requires enormous processing. Further, actually, it is notthat all of the materials and parts are manufactured and managed withinone organization, but generally, many of them are procured from externalorganizations. Acquisition and processing of data related to thesematerials and parts procured from the external organizations will be asubstantial work.

Therefore, the data related to the individual materials and parts(hereinafter referred to only as parts representing them all, becausebasically any of them will do as an object of handling) will be managedin cooperation with external organizations (makers).

Here, a processing at the time of purchasing a predetermined part willbe described. In case the part is manufactured in an externalorganization (supplier side), it is general that a plurality of dataexchange related to the part takes place between this supplier side anda purchaser side that purchases the part.

As procedures to be executed for the purchase of the parts, there are,for example, whether or not the introduction of the parts is completed,documents describing a basic specification, dimensional data,performance and others are prepared, handed-over, and verified. Suchdata exchange between the supplier and the purchaser is done mostly indocuments, and further, such exchange in documents takes place severaltimes, still further, there is a problem that a time and effort requiredfor such single exchange is substantial.

Further, there may arise such a problem that, in the case where thepurchaser side manufactures a plurality of products, and these productsare processed by different persons respectively in charge, if the samekind of parts are to be used in different products, these differentpersons respectively in charge of the different products are likely torequest the supplier to manufacture the same kind of partsindependently, thereby causing inefficiency.

Therefore, by constructing a common database that can be used both bythe supplier side and the purchaser side, time spent in processing ofwork on the supplier side and the purchaser side will be shortened,thereby enabling efficient processing to be achieved. Such a method willbe described in the following.

FIG. 43 is a diagram showing a configuration of an informationprocessing system according to one embodiment of the invention. Apurchaser 101 who purchases the parts and a supplier 102-1 to 102-N whosupplies the parts are connected via a network 103 so as to be able toexchange data with each other.

The purchaser 101 is provided with a parts information database 111storing information related to various parts. The supplier 102-1 to102-N is also provided with databases 112-1 to 112-N storing informationrelated to the parts they supply (they deal with).

In the following description, unless the supplier 102-1 to 102-N and thedatabase 112-1 to 112-N need to be differentiated, they will be referredto simply as supplier 102, and database 112. Other apparatuses will bedescribed likewise.

In the case where the system shown in FIG. 1 is comprised within oneorganization, the purchaser 101 corresponds to the first managementsector (user therein) in the head office 1, and the parts informationdatabase 111 can be stored in the storage device 48 (FIG. 11) of PC 10.Further, the purchaser (supplier?) 102 corresponds to an externalorganization (maker who manufactures the parts) not shown in FIG. 1, anddatabase 112 corresponds to a storage device in a computer eachorganization has.

In the case the system shown in FIG. 1 is comprised of a plurality oforganizations, the purchaser 101 corresponds to the head office 1, andthe supplier 102 corresponds to the branch 2. The network 103, likewisethe network 3 in FIG. 1, is comprised of a network such as an Internet,LAN or the like.

Here, the purchaser 101 is a corporation that manufactures apredetermined product and a plurality of corporations that manufactureand supply parts of the predetermined product are the supplier 102, andthe data of the parts information database 111 is allowed to be browsednot only by the purchaser 101, but also by the supplier 102. However,there may be imposed some limitation or may not any limitation withrespect to this browsing.

For example, although the parts information database 111 is allowed tostore information of the parts handled by respective corporations, ifthis information is disclosed without any limitation, the suppliers102-1 to 102-N is allowed to observe information of the other suppliers102-1 to 102-N. If such an instance may cause a problem, there may beimposed some limitation so that, for example, only disclosed informationcan be freely accessed while the other confidential information cannotbe accessed, or that information of the other supplier 102 cannot beobserved at all (only the in-house information can be observed).

The purchaser 101 freely can access and observe the data stored in theparts information database 111. In the case the purchaser 101manufactures a plurality of products and has a person in charge for eachof the plurality of products, or in the case there exist a plurality ofdifferent departments involved even for one product such as a designdepartment, a design support department, a packaging department and thelike, all of the persons involved therein are allowed to use the partsinformation database 111 without any limitation.

By allowing the plurality of persons involved to use the same partsinformation database 111, it is enabled to prevent a duplicatedprocessing by different persons such as the different personsrespectively in charge place a request of a supply of the same kind ofparts, and also to prevent for the same kind of parts from beingattached with a different part number.

With reference to FIG. 44, the information stored in the partsinformation database 111 will now be described. Respective informationis stored per each supplier 102-1 to 102-N, per each part dealt with bya respective corporation, and per each item of such as the productinformation, standard information, CAD information and packageinformation. For respective suppliers 102-1 to 102-N, although the partsthey handle and the number thereof differ from one another, with respectto their parts, data of 4 items of the above-mentioned productinformation, standard information, CAD information and packageinformation are stored, respectively.

By the way, although it is described that in the parts informationdatabase 111, the above-mentioned four items of information are stored,but it is not limited thereto, and other information maybe stored aswell, or it is not always necessary that the above-mentioned four itemsof information is to be stored. Information to be stored may be changedas required.

Performance information of the parts is, for example, as shown in FIG.45, information pertaining to the performance of the parts, and isindicated using a graph or the like. The graph shown in FIG. 45, andgraphs shown in FIGS. 46 to 47 are information stored in the partsinformation database 111 that can be observed, respectively, forexample, they are samples of display to be displayed on the display 71serving as the output device 47 of PC 10 having the internal structureas shown in FIG. 11.

The standards information of the parts is information indicatingstandards, for example, as shown in FIG. 46 that are set up in thecorporation the purchaser 101 belongs to. In the parts informationdatabase 111, only such parts that conform to these standards arestored. FIG. 46 shows an example of displays comparing a plurality ofparts conforming to equivalent standards.

The CAD information is information, for example, as shown in FIG. 47,indicating an appearance (a perspective view) or the like of the partdesigned using CAD. The package information is information, for example,as shown in FIG. 48, indicating detailed information such as dimensionsof the part and the like for use when mounting into an actual product.By referring to this information according to the package information,when the part is judged not fit to the package, the data of this part isnot stored in the parts information database 111.

The information as described above is stored in the parts informationdatabase 111. In the next, the processing using the parts informationdatabase 111 will be described. By referring to a flowchart in FIG. 49,processing by the supplier 102 will be described. In step S111, thesupplier 102 accesses the parts information database 111 provided in thepurchaser 101 via network 103.

When accessing the parts information database 111, there may be provideda process to enter a password or the like in order to authenticate thesupplier 1 who is permitted access. Further, there may be provided anaccounting process to be able to account for use of the database whenaccess is made. This accounting may be repeated at every access, or madeonce at the time the supplier 102 obtained permission of access (at thetime the purchaser 101 issued access permission) and no further chargebilled for subsequent access.

When the access processing to the parts information database 111 iscompleted in step S111, the supplier 102 executes a search of the partsin a next step S112. This process of search of the parts is executedwhen a request to supply a part A with a predetermined specification isissued from the purchaser side 101. The supplier 102 searches throughthe parts information database 111 to determine whether or not the partA corresponding to the specification of the request exists, and if itexists, the supplier can determine that this part A has been tradedalready with the purchaser 101, or it has been delivered thereto.

By searching through the parts information database 111 as describedabove, even in such a case where the persons in charge on the purchaserside 101 and the supplier side 102 have been transferred, both sides canrecognize the parts that have been handled already with each other,thereby preventing a duplicated processing from being repeated for thesame kind of parts.

Further, when a sales promotion of a predetermined part is desired, theprocessing of search of the part will be executed in order to determinewhether or not this part is registered in the parts information database111. When this part is not registered, this part proceeds to beregistered. After registration thereof, when a purchase of a new part isplanned on the purchaser side 101, and when the purchaser 101 searchesthrough the parts information database 111, the newly registered partwill be outputted as a result of the search, thereby consequentlypromoting the sales of this part.

In step S113, using a result of the search of the part in the step S112,it is determined whether or not the part being searched has beenregistered (stored) in the parts information database 111. In case thepart being searched is determined in step S113 to have been registeredin the parts information database 111, the processing of the flowchartshown in FIG. 49 is terminated.

On the other hand, if the part being searched is determined in step S113not to have been registered yet in the parts information database 111,the step proceeds to S114, where the supplier 102 request the purchaser101 to register the part that has been searched and found not to havebeen stored. Then, in step S115, the data of that part is sent.

The processing in step S114 and step S115 may be executed by dataexchange via the network 103 or by post mail or the like. When aregistration request is sent from the supplier side 102 as describedabove, the purchaser side 101 carries out registration processing inaccordance with the steps in the flowchart as shown in FIG. 50.

The purchaser 101 who receives a registration request from the supplier102 in step S121 determines whether or not the part requested of itsregistration conforms to the standards within the corporation in stepS122. If determined to conform to the standards, the step proceeds toS123, where it is determined if it conforms to the package. Ifdetermined to conform to the package, the step proceeds to S124 wherethe part requested of its registration is registered in the partsinformation database 111.

As described hereinabove, only such parts conforming to the standardsand the package are registered in the parts information database 111,and those parts that do not conform to either one of the standards andthe package are not registered in the parts information database 111.Needless to mention, even those parts that do not conform to thestandards or the package may be registered as well if required.

The judgment whether or not the part requested of its registrationconforms to the standards and the package to be executed in steps S122and S123 may be carried out by a person or by the computer that controlsthe parts information database 111.

When the registration is completed in step S124, an accountingprocessing is executed in step S125. This accounting processing is forcharging a registration fee. The accounting processing may be arrangedso as not to be executed, in that case, the processing of step S125 isomitted.

The part information thus registered in the parts information database111 is used, as described above, when the supplier 102 searches and/orwhen a different person in charge of a different product within thecorporation on the side of the purchaser 101 searches through thedatabase. By allowing to store the parts data from a plurality ofsuppliers 102 in the parts information database 111 that can be accessedby both the purchaser 101 and the supplier 102, it is enabled easily tocompare and examine the parts handled by different suppliers 102, forexample, as shown in FIG. 46. Further, various processing required untilthe delivery of the parts can be simplified, and inconveniences such asa duplicated processing can be avoided.

At the time of production of a predetermined product, it is a problemhow one can acquire a predetermined part with a predeterminedspecification. As described above, by use of the above-mentioned method,it becomes possible to carry out the comparison and examination of theparts dealt with by different suppliers 102, thereby substantiallysimplifying the processing required until the delivery of the parts, andavoiding the inconveniences such as duplicated processing. However, inorder to further improve the user-friendliness, another embodiment ofthe invention will be described.

In order to obtain appropriate parts having a desired specification, amaterial procurement and inventory department in the corporation(hereinafter, referred to as the user) gathers catalogues fromrespective parts makers to search appropriate parts having the desiredspecification, then places an order to purchase the parts. Nowadays,because it has become possible to carry out a specification search ofparts on a Web page the parts makers provide, it is generally practicedby the user to search for appropriate parts having a desirablespecification on the Web page, and place a purchase order for suchparts.

However, it happens often that parts specification information the useracknowledges differs from the parts specification information listed onthe Web page accessed by the user. Therefore, the user must correlatethe part specification information the user recognizes with the partspecification information of the part maker at the access site, thenexecute a specification search.

Further, although it is an indispensable task for procurement of theparts to extract a plurality of parts data of a desired specificationfrom parts information of respective parts makers and compare prices ofthe parts on the basis of the extracted data, the user will have tospend enormous time in this task. This is due to the fact that in order;to compare the prices of the parts, the user must access each maker'sWeb page and execute specification searches.

Thereby, it becomes important to provide a part search apparatus and apart search system easily capable of searching parts having a desirablespecification and comparing prices of the parts having the samespecification offered from different makers.

Thereby, the part search apparatus and the part search system easilycapable of searching the parts having the desirable specification, andcomparing the prices of the parts of the same specification from thedifferent makers will be described in the following.

FIG. 51 is a diagram showing a configuration of the part search systemaccording to an embodiment of the invention. This part search system iscomprised of a user terminal 201, a plurality of distributed servers 202and search servers 203. The user terminal 201 is a terminal thepurchaser 101 uses, and the distributed servers 202-1 to 202-N areterminals to be used by the supplier 102-1 to 102-N.

The user terminal 201 is connected to a search server 203 via network103-1. The network 103-1 is, for example, an intranet (Trade Name) LANor the like.

A plurality of distributed servers 2 are connected to the search server203 via network 103-2. Here, the network 103-2 refers to, for example,LAN such as Intranet (Trade Name). By the way, in the presentembodiment, an example in which the distributed servers 202-1 to 202-Nare connected respectively to the search server 203 via the network103-2 will be described. Here, the distributed server 202 is assumed tobe managed by a different parts maker such as that the distributedserver 202-1 is a server storing parts information of partsmanufacturing corporation A, the distributed server 202-2 is a serverstoring parts information of parts manufacturing corporation B, and thedistributed server 202-3 is a server storing parts information of partsmanufacturing corporation C.

The user terminal 201 is a terminal capable of browsing Web page on thenetwork such as network 103-1, as well as exchanging e-mails. Morespecifically, the user terminal 201 is a PC 10 having an internalconstitution, for example, as shown in FIG. 11, provided with a Webbrowser and an E-mail software preinstalled. Here, for convenience ofexplanation, an example having one user terminal 201 connected to thesearch server 203 is illustrated and will be described, however, itshould be understood that the number of units of the user terminal 201is not limited thereto.

Because the internal constitution of the user terminal 201, thedistributed server 202 or the search server 203 is basically the same asthe internal constitution of PC 10 shown in FIG. 11, thereby, theirillustration and description will be omitted.

The distributed server 202 is a server leased from a corporationoperating the search server 203 to a respective parts maker (supplier102), and in this distributed server 202, parts information of therespective parts maker is stored. This parts information contains atleast parts specification information, and preferably, contains partsdesignation information, parts specification information, parts priceinformation and desired delivery date information. The parts designationinformation is information for designating or specifying the parts, forexample, such as the name of a maker, the name of a product model (type)of the maker, or the like. The parts specification information isinformation pertaining to a specification of the parts, for example,data of electrostatic capacity, rated voltage, temperatures, outerdimensions, model types and the like. Here, the parts specificationinformation refers to the information converted from a format unique toa respective parts maker to a format common to the respective partsmakers.

The parts price information is information pertaining to prices of theparts, and the desired delivery date information is informationindicating the number of days required until the maker delivers theordered parts to the user. By way of example, in the present embodimentof the invention, storage of the parts information in the distributedserver 202 is performed by respective parts makers. More specifically,the respective parts maker executes storage of the parts informationusing an input device (not shown) provided in the distributed server. Asdescribed above, by enabling the storage of the parts information intothe distributed server 202 to be operated by the respective partsmakers, abundant parts information can be stored in the distributedserver 202.

Although it is not shown here, each parts maker has a maker's terminal,and this terminal is connected to the search server 203 via a network,for example, such as network 103-1. This maker's terminal is a terminalcapable of browsing Web pages on the network such as network 103-1, andalso exchanging mails. More specifically, the maker's terminal is apersonal computer preinstalled with a Web browser and an e-mailsoftware. Further, the maker's terminal can be shared with thedistributed server 202.

Further, because the maker's terminal can be implemented with the samestructure as the above-mentioned user terminal 201, illustration anddescription of the structure of the maker's terminal will be omitted.

The search server 203 is a server that, on the basis of a search requestinformation sent from the user terminal 201, via the network such asnetwork 103-2, can search through the distributed server, 202(-1),distributed server 202(-2) and distributed server 202(-3), and can sendsearch result information corresponding to a result of the search to theuser terminal 201 via the network 103-1. More specifically, it is aserver that can generate a file described in HTML (HyperText MarkupLanguage), XML (extensible Markup Language) or the like, and send thisfile to the user terminal 201 via the network 103-1. Further, the searchserver 203 is the server that can store the file described in HTML, XMLor the like, and in response to a request from the user terminal 201,sends this file to the user terminal 201. On the Web browser of the userterminal 201, a Web page is displayed on the basis of the file receivedfrom the search server 203.

An example of display screen (Web pages) displayed on the Web browser atthe user terminal 201 on the basis of the file sent from the searchserver 203 to the user terminal 201 will be shown in the following.

FIG. 52 is an example of the display screen (for example, on a Web page)for selecting search information. Such a display screen is displayed ondisplay 71 of the user terminal 201. A parts kind (parts name) selectionbox 221 is a box for selecting a parts kind of the parts the userdesires to search. More specifically, when the parts kind selection box221 is clicked, a table menu of parts kinds (hereinafter, referred to asa pull-down menu) is displayed. On this pull-down menu, parts names suchas capacitor, resistance, inductance and the like are displayed.

A parts type selection box 222 is a selection box of a pull-down menutype for selecting a type of parts the user desires to search. On thispull-down menu, types of parts corresponding to the parts kind (partsname) selected in the parts kind selection box 221 are displayed. Forexample, in case a capacitor is selected in the parts kind selection box221, types of parts such as electrolytic capacitor, ceramic capacitor,film capacitor and the like are displayed.

A cost selection box 223 is a selection box of a pull-down menu type forselecting a range of cost for the parts the user desires to search. Onthis pull-down menu, for example, a price range of the parts isdisplayed. A maker name selection box 224 is a selection box of apull-down menu type for selecting a maker of the parts the user desiresto search. On this pull-down menu, names of parts makers the partsinformation of which is stored in the distributed server 202 aredisplayed. Here, makers' names such as parts makers A, B, C and the likeare displayed.

A search button 225 is a button to link to a search display screen forselecting detailed information. By the way, in order to be able to linkto the search display screen for selecting detailed information, it isnecessary at least to select the parts kind (name) in the parts kindselection box 221.

FIG. 53 is an example of search display screen for selecting detailedsearch information. Here, this example is an instance where in the partskind selection box 221 on the search display screen shown in FIG. 52,the capacitor is selected as the parts kind (name) desired to search. Anelectrostatic capacity selection box 231 is a selection box of apull-down menu type for selecting an electrostatic capacity of thecapacitor the user desires to search. A rated voltage selection box 232is a selection box of pull-down menu type for selecting a range of ratedvoltages of the capacitor the user desires to search. A temperatureselection box 233 is a selection box of pull-down menu type forselecting a range of temperatures of the capacitor the user desires tosearch.

An outer dimension selection box 234 is a selection box of pull-downmenu type for selecting a range of outer dimensions of the capacitor theuser desires to search. A delivery date selection box 235 is a selectionbox of pull-down menu type for selecting a range of delivery dates ofthe capacitor the user desires to search. A cost select portion 236 is aselection portion to determine whether to display a search result inorder of costs or not, a maker select portion 237 is a selection portionto determine whether to display the result of selection in order of themakers or not, and a parts type select portion 238 is a selectionportion to determine whether the result of selection to be displayed inorder of the parts kinds or not.

A search button 239 is a button for displaying a search result displayscreen to be described later. More specifically, by depressing thissearch button 239 search request information corresponding to the searchinformation selected on the above-mentioned search screen is sent fromthe user terminal 201 to the search server 203. Here, by depressing thesearch button 239, the search request information corresponding to thesearch information selected on the search display screens shown in FIGS.52 and 53 is transmitted to the search server 203.

FIG. 54 shows an example of search result display screen. Here, FIG. 54shows an example of search result display screen displayed on thedisplay 71 of the user terminal 201, as a result that a search resultcorresponding to the search information selected on the search displayscreens shown in FIGS. 52 and 53 was searched by the search server 203,and sent. As shown in FIG. 54, on the search result display screen,contents of information such as the name of maker, the model name of themaker, electrostatic capacity, rated voltage, temperature, outerdimensions, model type, cost, date of delivery, and the like aredisplayed.

An application button 241 is a button for displaying a purchase orderapplication display screen to be described later. A comparison button242 is a button for displaying a search result comparison display screento be described later. Here, by selecting the parts information the userdesires to compare using a selection box 243, only the parts informationthe user desires to compare can be displayed on the search resultcomparison display screen. Further, in a maker's model name characterbox 244, a link to the parts maker's Web page describing detailedinformation related to the parts of this model name is pasted.

FIG. 55 shows an example of search result comparison display screen. Thesearch result comparison display screen is a display screen in whicharrangements of the rows and columns of the search result display screenare interchanged. By way of example, on the search result comparisondisplay screen, only the parts information selected in theabove-mentioned selection box 243 is displayed. Thereby, the user caneasily compare prices of the parts of the same specification belongingto different makers. A return button 251 is a button for returning tothe search result display screen.

FIG. 56 shows an example of purchase order application display screen.As shown in FIG. 56, on the purchase order application screen, the namesof makers and the names of model types are displayed. The order numberbox 261 is a box for inputting the number of pieces of the parts theuser desires to purchase. An application (order) button 262 is a buttonfor displaying a user authentication display screen to be describedlater. A return button 263 is a button for returning to the searchresult display screen. By way of example, by returning to the searchresult display screen using this return button 263, and by depressingthe application (order) button 241, it is also possible to display aplurality of parts information as shown in FIG. 56. That is, the usercan place orders for a plurality of parts of the same makers, or for aplurality of parts of different makers simultaneously. A delete button264 is a button for deleting the parts information displayed from thepurchase order application display screen.

FIG. 57 shows an example of the user authentication display screen. Asshown in FIG. 57, on the user authentication display screen, USER IDinput box 271 for inputting a user ID (Identification) and PASSWORDinput box 272 for inputting a user password are provided. Afterinputting the user ID and the user password that are given to the userin advance into these input boxes, if ENTER button 273 is operated, anorder application contents verification display screen to be describedlater is displayed. By the way, the user ID and the user password areones that have been given to the user prior to the placement of theorder of the parts.

More specifically, the user, prior to placement of the order, accessesthe search server 203 to complete the user registration, and then, theuser can obtain this user ID and user password. At the time of the userregistration, the user is required to enter user information such as thename of corporation, address, mail address, telephone number and thelike (hereinafter referred to as user information) into predeterminedspaces on the Web page. By the way, this user information is stored in astorage unit (not shown) in the search server 203.

FIG. 58 shows an example of the order application contents verificationdisplay screen. As shown in FIG. 58, on the order application contentsverification display screen, information such as the name of model(type), the name of maker, the number of pieces of order, price,subtotal, total and the like is displayed. A verification button 281 isa button for ordering the parts displayed on the purchase order contentsverification display screen to the parts maker. More specifically, bypressing this button, request application information corresponding tothe information displayed on the application contents verificationdisplay screen is transmitted to the search server 203. Here, bypressing this, verification button 281, purchase request informationcorresponding to the application contents verification display screenshown in FIG. 58 is transmitted to the search server 203.

FIG. 59 shows an example of purchase order acknowledgment forms. Thispurchase order acknowledgment form is a form returned from a makerterminal to the user terminal 201 when the maker terminal receives thepurchase request information from the user terminal 201 via the searchserver 203. On this purchase request acknowledgment form, informationsuch as the name of model/type of the parts the user ordered,quantities, amount of money, address of delivery of the parts, date ofdelivery, method of payment, contact address of the maker who receivedthe order and the like are described. Thereby, the user at the userterminal 201 can confirm if there is any error in his/her order.

FIG. 60 shows a flowchart for describing the search operation and thesearch procedures in the parts search system according to one embodimentof the invention. Here, an example in which the user desires a capacitoras the parts to be searched will be described.

In step S201, a respective parts maker stores parts information of itsown into the distributed server 2. Here, the parts specificationinformation contained in the parts information is described on a formatcommon to the whole corporations as converted from respective formatsunique to respective corporations.

In step S202, the user, using the user terminal 201, accesses the searchserver 203, causing the Web browser to display the search display screenshown in FIG. 52. Then, selecting the capacitor in the parts name(model) selection box 221, further after selecting the type of capacitorthe user desires to search, a cost range and the name of makers,appropriately in the type selection box 222, the cost selection box 223and the makers' name selection box 224, the search button 225 ispressed. Thereby, the search display screen shown in FIG. 53 isdisplayed on the Web browser at the user terminal 201.

Then, in the electrostatic capacity selection box 231, the rated voltageselection box 232, the temperature selection box 233, the outerdimension selection box 234 and the delivery data selection box 235, anelectrostatic capacity range of the capacitor, a rated voltage range atemperature range, an outer dimension range and a delivery date rangethat the user desires to search are appropriately selected. Further, ifnecessary, selecting in the cost selection box 236, the maker selectionbox 237 and the type selection box 238, then, the search button 239 isoperated. By this operation, search request information corresponding tothe search display screens shown in FIGS. 52 and 53 is sent from theuser terminal 201 to the search server 203.

In step S203, the search server 203, in response to the search requestinformation received from the user terminal 201, searches through thedistributed server 202. As a result of search, if informationcorresponding to the search request information exists, the processproceeds to S204. If no parts information corresponding to the searchrequest information exists, the search processing is ended. At the timeof ending the search processing, there may be provided a step to displaya message on the display 71 at the user terminal 201 notifying the userof its ending.

In step S204, the search server 203 sends search result informationcorresponding to a search result to the user terminal 201. Then, theuser terminal 201, upon receiving the search result information, and onthe basis of the search result information received, displays a searchresult display screen on the Web browser.

In step S205, the user at the user terminal 201, after browsing thesearch result display screen displayed on the Web browser, in order tolearn further detailed parts information, decides whether or not to linkto a maker's catalogue. If the user desires to link to the maker'scatalogue, and clicks the maker's model name (parts name) characterportion 244, the step proceeds to S206. If the user does not desire tolink to the maker's catalogue, and does not click the maker's model namecharacter portion 244, the step proceeds to S207.

In step S206, the Web, page describing the catalogue of the parts makeris displayed on the Web browser at the user terminal 201. That is, theWeb browser of the user terminal 201 displays information on the basisof an HTML file including the maker's catalogue information transmittedfrom a server (not shown) that stores the catalogue information of theparts maker.

In step S207, the user selects, in the selection box 243, the partsinformation the user desires to compare from the parts information onthe search result display screen shown in FIG. 54. In step S208, theuser operates the comparison button 242 in the search result displayscreen shown in FIG. 54. The step proceeds to S209, where the searchresult comparison display screen shown in FIG. 55 is displayed on theWeb browser at the user terminal 201. Then, the user after browsing thissearch result comparison display screen depresses the return button 251to return to the search result display screen shown in FIG. 54.

In step S210, the user decides whether or not to purchase the parts.When the user desires the purchase of the parts, and operates theapplication button 241 in the search display screen shown in FIG. 54,the step proceeds to S212. When the user does not desire to purchase theparts, and does not operate the application button 241 in the searchdisplay screen shown in FIG. 54, the step advances to S211.

In step S211, the user determines whether or not a retry is desired.When the user decides a retry of the search desired, and instructs itsdecision by operating the user terminal 201, the step returns to thestep S202, in which the user selects search information again. If theuser does not desire a retrial of the search, the parts search is.terminated.

In step S212, on the Web browser of the user terminal 201, the purchaseapplication display screen shown in FIG. 56 is displayed. The user,after inputting the number of pieces of the parts to order in the ordernumber box 261, operates the application button 262. Thereby, on the Webbrowser of the user terminal 201, the user authentication display screenshown in FIG. 57 is displayed. Then, after the user ID and the passwordhaving been inputted respectively in the user ID input box 271 and thepassword input box 272, and when the ENTER button 273 is operated, theWeb browser of the user terminal 201 displays the order applicationcontents verification display screen shown in FIG. 58. The user, afterverifying the contents of order on this order application contentsverification display screen, operates the verification button 281.

In step S213, purchase request information corresponding to theinformation displayed on the application contents verification displayscreen shown in FIG. 58 is sent from the user terminal 201 to the searchserver 203.

In step S214, the search server 203, upon receiving the purchase requestinformation from the user terminal 201, transfers the user informationtogether with this purchase request information to the maker terminal(not shown).

In step S215, the parts maker, upon receiving the purchase requestinformation and the user information via the maker terminal (not shown),generates the order acknowledgment form corresponding to these purchaserequest information and user information to be sent to the user terminal201 via e-mail.

In step S216, the parts maker, on the basis of the purchase requestinformation and the user information, ships the parts to the user.

As described hereinabove, according to the one embodiment of theinvention, the parts maker stores the parts information on thestandardized format in the distributed server 202, the user sends thesearch request information using the user terminal 201 to the searchserver 203, the search server 203 on the basis of the search requestinformation received searches through the parts information stored inthe distributed server 202 and sends the search result informationcorresponding to this search result to the user terminal 201, thereby,the user is enabled to search the parts of the same specificationbelonging to different makers simultaneously and easily.

Therefore, the user can shorten substantially the time spent insearching the parts. Further, on the basis of the search resultinformation received from the search server 203 and displayed on thesearch result display screen at the user terminal 201, because the partsof the same specification belonging to the different makers and theprices of the parts are displayed, the user can easily compare theprices of the parts of the same specification belonging to the differentmakers.

Further, because the parts specification information displayed on therespective display screens described above is converted to thestandardized format commonly applicable to the respective makers, such asituation can be avoided where the parts specification information theuser recognizes and the parts specification information described on theWeb page at the accessed site differs from each other.

In the next, another embodiment of the invention will be described. Inthe exemplary embodiment described above, the example in which theplurality of distributed servers 202 are connected to the search server203 via the network 103-2 has been described, however, in the anotherembodiment to be described in the following, an instance in which aplurality of distributed servers 202′ are connected to a search server203 via a network 103 will be described.

FIG. 61 shows a structure of a parts search system according to anotherembodiment of the invention. This parts search system is comprised of auser terminal 201, a plurality of distributed servers 202′, a searchserver 203, and a maker terminal 291. The user terminal 201, theplurality of distributed servers 202′, the search server 203 and themaker terminal 291 are connected to a network 103.

In this example shown here, the user terminal 201, the plurality ofdistributed servers 202′, the search server 203 and the maker terminal291 are connected to the network 103 which is a LAN such as Internet orintranet. By the way, in FIG. 61, the same parts and symbols as thosedescribed in the above-mentioned embodiment will be omitted of theirdetailed description.

The distributed server 202′ is a server capable of executing operationsuch as a directory operation in response to a command from the makerterminal 291, a transfer of a file existing in the directory, and awriting of a file sent from the maker terminal 291. The other functionsand the structure of the distributed server 202′, because they areapproximately the same as those described in the preceding embodiment,will be omitted of their detailed description. For convenience ofdescription, a single unit of the distributed server 202′ is illustratedand described to be connected to the network 103, however, the number ofunits of the distributed server 202′ is not limited thereto.

The maker terminal is a terminal the parts maker has, and using thismaker terminal 291, via the network 103, the parts maker is allowed toperform such operation as a directory operation within the distributedserver 202′, a file transfer request to the distributed server 202′, andwriting a file in the distributed server 202′. Thereby, the parts maker,using the maker terminal 291, is capable of executing such operation asupdating of parts information stored in the distributed server 202′ andthe like. The other functions and structure of the maker terminal 291,because they are approximately the same as those in the foregoingembodiment described above, will be omitted of their detaileddescription.

A search operation and a search processing in the parts search systemaccording to the present embodiment which will be described briefly withreference to FIG. 61 are approximately the same as those described inthe foregoing embodiment described with reference to FIG. 51, therefore,their detailed description will be omitted. Further, in the presentembodiment to be described with reference to FIG. 61, the purchaserequest information may be transmitted from the user terminal 201directly to the maker terminal 291.

As described above, according to the another embodiment of theinvention, the parts maker stores the parts information prepared on thecommon format in the distributed server 202′, the user transmits thesearch request information to the search server 203 using the userterminal 201, the search server 203 on the basis of the search requestinformation received searches the parts information stored in thedistributed server 202′, and transmits search result informationcorresponding to the search result to the user terminal 201, thereby,the user is enabled to search the parts of the same specificationbelonging to different makers simultaneously and easily.

Thereby, the user can substantially reduce the time spent in searchingthe parts. Further, on the basis of the search result informationreceived from the search server 203, on the search result display screento be displayed at the user terminal 201, because the parts of the samespecification belonging to the different makers and the prices of theseparts are displayed, the user can easily compare the prices of the partsof the same specification belonging to the different makers.

Further, because the parts specification information displayed on therespective display screens described above are converted to the commonformat applicable to the respective parts makers, such the situation canbe avoided that the parts specification information the user is aware ofand the parts specification information introduced on the Web page atthe accessed site differ from each other.

Hereinabove, the present embodiment of the invention has been describedspecifically, however, it should be understood that the presentinvention is not limited thereto, and many other modifications, changesand variations can be conceived within the scope of the invention.

For example, in the embodiment described above, it has been described byway of example where the respective parts makers store their respectiveparts information in the distributed servers 202 or 202′, however, anoperating company of the search server 203, in place of the respectiveparts makers, may store the respective parts information of therespective parts makers in the distributed servers 202 or 202′. In thiscase, the operating company, as a service fee for storing the partsinformation in the distributed servers 202 or 202′, may charge therespective makers.

Further, in the embodiment described above, instead that the operatingcompany of the search server 203 leases the distributed server 202 tothe parts makers, it may be arranged also such that the respective partsmakers account a rental fee.

Still further, in the embodiment described above, it may be arranged sothat the operating company of the search server 203 charges the userwith an access fee for accessing the search server 203. Morespecifically, the user, when accesses the search server 203 and carriesout the user registration, may pay a user registration fee to theoperating company of the searcher server 203.

Still more, although the above-mentioned embodiment is described by wayof example of the instance in which the search server 203 transfers thepurchase request information sent from the user to the user terminal 22,also, it may be arranged such that the search server 203, after havingstored the purchase request information sent from the user, transmitsthe same to the maker terminal. Then, the search server 203, on thebasis of the purchase request information stored in the search server203, may generate, for example, document such as a best seller rankingfor each model, a shipping schedule table for the whole parts, and sendto the respective makers terminals. Generation of these documents iscarried out, for example, using aggregation software the search server203 has. Further, the operating company of the search server 203, inexchange for supplying the documents, may charge the parts maker.

Further, in the description of the embodiment of the invention describedabove, although it is described by way of example where the parts maker,using the input unit (not shown) provided in the distributed server 202,stores the parts information, however, it may be arranged also that theparts maker, using the maker terminal, stores the parts information inthe distributed server 202. Namely, it may be arranged so that the partsmaker stores the parts information in the distributed server 202 via thenetwork 103.

In such a circumstance where a plurality of suppliers 102 (parts makers)exist as intermixed, terms used by these parts makers may differsometimes. If the terms used by respective parts makers differ from oneanother, the user is required to search the desired parts by thefollowing procedures.

FIG. 62 is a flowchart describing a service for providing the partsspecification. Here, it will be described by way of example forproviding a parts specification of a capacitor.

Firstly, the user, in step S301, by using the user terminal of its own,accesses the search display screen shown in FIG. 63. The user clicks theparts kind (name) selection box 101 to cause the parts kind table(herein after referred to as the pull-down menu) to be displayed, andselects a capacitor in this pull-down menu. Then, after an appropriateselection in the parts type selection box 102 is made by the user, thesearch button 103 is clicked. In response to this clicking, aspecification information designation display screen shown in FIG. 64 isdisplayed on a display (not shown) at the user terminal.

Subsequently, the user, in step S302, determines whether or not aspecification name (pole capacity, maximum specification voltage,maximum rated voltage, temperature, and dimension) displayed on thespecification information designation display screen coincides with thespecification name the user recognizes for oneself. If the user, in stepS303, determines coincidence thereof with the specification name theuser is aware of, selects a desired specification in the selectioncolumn 104. Then, in step S304, the send button 105 is operated, and thespecification information is sent to the parts maker.

Then, in step S305, the parts maker receives the specificationinformation via the-server of its own, and after searching the partsthat satisfy this specification information, returns a mail listing theparts number of the parts searched to the user (user terminal).

Subsequently, the user, in step S306, receives via the user terminal themail listing the parts number. Then, the user, in step S307, on thebasis of this parts number, accesses a desired parts specification,further, in step S308, after browsing this parts specification, decideswhether or not to purchase the parts. In step S308, if decided topurchase the parts, the user, in step S309, starts a purchasetransaction such as a negotiation of the price of the parts, however ifdecided not to purchase, the step returns to S303, and the subsequentsteps will be repeated.

On the other hand, in step S302, because of a reason that thespecification name the user is aware of is not listed on thespecification information designation display screen, it often occursthat the specification of the parts cannot be selected. This is due tothe fact that each parts maker lists up the specification name using itsown terminology unique to that maker.

In such a case, the user, in step S309, at the time when sending thespecification information to the parts maker, by referring to in-houserules and standards written in terminologies unique to the maker at theaccessed site, executes operation to correlate the specification namethe user is aware of with the specification name unique to the partsmaker at the accessed site.

Further, when correlation between these specification names cannot beattained using the rules and standards, in step S310, such a procedureas to inquire the specification name directly over the telephone to thesales department or the like of the parts maker is carried out so thatthe user obtains the desired name to be used.

That is, the user, due to the fact that the parts maker uses the uniqueterminology original thereto, the specification name the user is awareof is not listed on the specification information designation displayscreen, thereby preventing the specification of the parts from beingselected, therefore, using the rules and standards written in theoriginal terminology unique to the maker at the accessed site, the userhad to do a troublesome processing to correspond the specification namethe user knows to the specification name written in the originalterminology unique to the parts maker at the accessed site, or todirectly inquire the specification name over the telephone or the liketo the sales department of the parts maker.

As for such procedures, because also in the rest of the parts other thanthe capacitors, their specification names are written in originalterminology unique to respective corporations on the specificationinformation designation display screen, the user had to do troublesometask such as consulting with their rules and standards documents forcorrelation, and inquiry over the telephone or the like.

Further, not limiting to the display screens shown in FIGS. 63 and 64,on any display screen for inputting specification information of theparts the user desires, generally, the specification names are describedusing original terminology unique to respective makers, therefore, whensending the specification information to the parts maker, the usernormally had to do the above-mentioned troublesome and pains-takingwork.

Therefore, without carrying out such pains-taking processing, a methodwhereby the specification information of the parts the user desires canbe obtained easily is required. In the following, such a method will bedescribed.

FIG. 65 is a diagram showing a configuration of a term (terminology)conversion system according to one embodiment of the invention. Thisterm conversion system is basically the same as the parts search systemshown in FIG. 51, however, in the configuration of the term conversionsystem shown in FIG. 65, servers managed by suppliers 102-1 to 102-Ncorrespond to maker servers 312-1 to 312-N, and, instead of the searchserver 203, a link server 313 is provided.

The maker server 312, via network 103-2, is connected to the link server313. This network 103-2 is, for example, LAN, WAN such as an intranet,or an Internet. Here, the illustration and description of the embodimentwill be set forth by way of example in which the maker servers 312-1 to312-N are connected to the link server 313, via the network 103-2.However, the number of units of the maker servers 312 is not limitedthereto. By the way, the maker servers 312-1, 312-2, 312-3 maycorrespond to parts makers A, B and C.

The user terminal 201 is a terminal capable of browsing a Web page onthe network 103-1 as well as executing transmission and reception ofe-mails. More specifically, the user terminal 201 is a personal computerinstalled with the Web browser, electronic mail software and the like.By the way, for convenience of description, the illustration anddescription will be set forth by way of example in which a single unitof user terminal 201 is connected to the link server 313, however, thenumber of units of the user terminal 201 is not limited thereto.

Because constructions of the user terminal 201, the maker server 312,and the link server 313 are basically the same as that of PC 10 shown inFIG. 11, their illustrations and description will be omitted.

The link server 313 has a database, and the terms of the parts is storedin this database. In this database, original terms unique to each partsmaker and standard industrial terms commonly used among respectivemakers are stored. The standard industrial terms refer to standard termscommonly used by the respective makers, more specifically, refer to theinternational industrial standards terminology such as JIS (JapaneseIndustrial Standards) terminology, IEC (International Electro technicalCommission) terminology and the like. By the way, in the followingdescription, the industrial standards terminology stored in the databaseis assumed to be JIS terms.

The link server 313, on the basis of the terminology stored in thedatabase, converts the terms used in the specification informationreceived from the user terminal 201 to the standard terms, and then cansend to the maker server 312. The link server 313 sends thespecification information to the parts maker (supplier 102) that isregistered in advance to the link server 313. In this instance, theparts makers A, B and C are registered in advance in the link server313.

Further, the link server 313, on the basis of the terminology stored inthe database, converts the terms used in response information receivedfrom the maker server 312 into the standard terms, thereafter can sendto the user terminal 201. By the way, the response information will bedescribed later.

Further, according to the embodiment of the invention, the database is arelational database, and the original terms unique to the respectiveparts makers and the industrial standard terms are expressed in a twodimensional table. An example of this table is shown in FIG. 66. By theway, the data on the basis of such the table as shown in FIG. 66 isstored in the link server 313 as a standard term database 321 of thelink server 313.

As shown in FIG. 66, items in the table as this standard term database321 include JIS terms, usage terms in corporation A, usage terms incorporation B, usage terms in corporation C and usage terms incorporation D, and in this table, relational correspondence of usage ofterms between these parts makers, and relational correspondence betweenthese terms of the respective parts makers and the JIS terminology aredescribed. This table is prepared for each type of the parts.

Further, in the standard terms database 321 owned by the link server313, files written in HTML (HyperText Markup Language) or XML(eXtensible Markup Language) are also stored, and the link server 313 inresponse to a request from the user terminal 201, transmits these filesto the user terminal 201. On the Web browser at the user terminal 201which receives these file, the specification information input screenand the like are displayed.

FIG. 67 shows an example of the specification information input displayscreen. As shown in FIG. 67, on the specification information inputdisplay screen, there are provided a parts kind (name) selection box331, a parts type selection box 332, a plurality of specification nameinput column 333, a plurality of specification input columns 334 and335, and a send button 336.

The parts kind (name) selection box 331 is a selection box of pull-downtype menu for selecting a kind of the parts the user desires. On thispull-down menu, there are displayed kinds of the parts, for example,such as a capacitor, a resistance, a coil and the like. The parts typeselection box 332 is a selection box of pull-down type menu forselecting a type of the parts the user desires to purchase.

In this pull-down menu, there are displayed types of the partscorresponding to the kind of the parts the user selected in the partskind selection box 331. For example, when a capacitor is selected in theparts kind selection box 331, in the parts type selection box 332, thereare displayed types of the parts kind such as electrolytic capacitors,ceramic capacitors, film capacitors and the like.

The specification name input column 333 is a column for inputting aspecification name of the parts the user desires to purchase. Thespecification input columns 334 and 335 are columns for inputtingspecifications of the parts the user desires to purchase, wherein alower limit value is inputted in the specification input column 334, andan upper limit value is inputted in the specification input column 335.Here, it is also possible that limit values are inputted only in one ofthe specification input columns 334 and 335 thereby limiting either oneof the upper limit and the lower limit values.

The send button 336 is a button for sending the specificationinformation to the link server 313, more specifically, by operating thissend button 336, the specification information inputted on thespecification information input display screen shown in FIG. 67 is sentto the link server 313.

The maker server 312 is provided with a database, and in this database,parts specifications of the parts maker that owns this database arestored. This parts specification, which describes a detailedspecification or the like of respective parts, is described in alanguage, for example, HTML or XML. The maker server 312 can retrieve aparts specification corresponding to a parts number from the partsspecifications stored in the database.

Further, the maker server 312 can also receive specification informationsent from the link server 313. Each parts maker searches a part that cansatisfy the specification information received via the maker server 312,generates response information corresponding to a result of this search,and responds to the link server 313. By the way, each parts makersearches the part that satisfies the designated specificationinformation by browsing the parts specifications the each parts makerowns, or by searching through the parts specifications stored in thedatabase.

The response information generated by each parts maker contains, atleast, a parts number, and, for example, contains the parts number, URL(Uniform Resource Locators) corresponding to this parts number,specification information and shipping date, et al. Here the URLcorresponding to the parts number is a URL for accessing the partsspecification which describes detailed information of the partscorresponding to the parts number.

Thereby, the user who receives the response information, and enters theURL contained in the response information on the Web browser at the userterminal 201, is connected to a maker server 312 that has a domain namecontained in the URL. In the URL, the parts number in addition to thedomain name is contained, thereby, the maker server 312 searches a partsspecification corresponding to this parts number, then sends it to theuser terminal 201. By the way, the response information is responded tothe user, for example, by e-mail.

By referring to a flowchart shown in FIG. 68, an example of proceduresfrom transmission of the specification information to the parts makeruntil the purchase of the parts will be described. Here, an instancewill be described in which the user, using the terms of corporation Bshown in FIG. 66, transmits the specification information of the desiredparts to the parts makers, and receives response information to thisspecification information from corporations A, B and C. By the way,here, the desired part in this instance is a capacitor.

Firstly, the user, in step S321, using the user terminal 201, accessesthe specification information input display screen shown in FIG. 67.Then, after selecting the capacitor from the parts kind selection box331, the user selects an appropriate type of the capacitor from the typeselection box 332.

Subsequently, in step S322, the user inputs a “maximum rated voltage”which is the specification name the user recognizes into thespecification name input box 333-1, and appropriately inputs a desiredspecification into the specification input columns 334-1 and 335-1. Inthe same manner, the user inputs “pole capacity”, “maximum operatingvoltage” and “maximum operating current” which are the specificationnames the user knows appropriately into the specification name inputcolumns 333-2 to 333-4, then, inputs desired specificationsappropriately into the specification input columns 334-2 to 335-4.Subsequently, in step S33, the user operates the send button 336 to sendthe specification information to the link server 313.

Then, the link server 313, in step S324, on the basis of the termsstored in the standard usage term database 321, converts the terms usedin the specification information received from the user terminal 21 toJIS terminology. Namely, the rated maximum voltage, the pole capacity,the maximum operating voltage and the maximum operating current areconverted to a maximum operating voltage, electrostatic capacity, ratedvoltage and rated current, respectively. Then, in step S325, thespecification information subjected to this term conversion istransmitted to the maker servers 312-1 to 313-3 (respective serverscorresponding to respective parts makers' A, B and C) that wereregistered in advance in the link server 313.

Then, in step S326, each parts maker, after receiving the specificationinformation via each maker server 312 and searching the parts thatsatisfy this specification information, returns response informationcontaining the parts number of the parts searched, URL, specificationinformation (written in original terms unique to the parts maker) to thelink server 313.

Then, in step S327, the link server 313, on the basis of the termsstored in the database, converts the original terms unique to the partsmaker used in the response information received from the maker server312 to the JIS usage terms, and sends to the user terminal 201.

Subsequently, in step S328, the user receives response information viathe user terminal 201. Then, instep S329, the URL contained in thisresponse information is inserted in the Web browser to access thedesired parts specification, and in step S330, after browsing this partsspecification page, the user decides whether or not to purchase theparts. If the user decides to purchase the parts, in step S331, the userstarts a purchase transaction such as price negotiation of the parts andthe like. If the user decides not to purchase, the processing returns tostep S321, and the subsequent steps of processing is repeated.

As described hereinabove, because that the link server 313 receives thespecification information from the user terminal 201, and afterconverting the terms used in this specification information to thestandard terms of usage, transmits to the maker server 312, the user cansave pains-taking, tedious task to correspond (correlate) thespecification name the user knows to the specification name used by theparts maker at the mailing address of the specification information.Thereby, the user can convey the specification information of thedesired parts easily to the parts makers. Further, the user can reducethe time to be spent in acquiring the parts specifications from themakers.

Still further, because that the link server 313 receives the responseinformation corresponding to the specification information from themaker server 312, converts the terms used in this response informationreceived to the standard terms of usage, and transmits to the userterminal 201, the user can save the troublesome, tedium task to convertthe original terms unique to each parts maker used in the receivedresponse information to the terms of usage the user knows. Thereby thetime spent after receipt of the response information until the decisionto purchase the parts can be reduced substantially.

In the next, a term conversion system according to another embodiment ofthe present invention will be described. FIG. 69 is a diagram showing aconfiguration of the term conversion system according to such otherembodiment. In the system configuration shown in FIG. 65 and describedabove, it is described by way of example where the link server 313converts the terms used in the specification information received fromthe user terminal 201 to the standard terms, and sends to the makerserver 312, however, in the system configuration shown in FIG. 69, itwill be described by way of example, in which the link server 313′converts the terms used in the specification information received fromthe user terminal 201 to standard terms corresponding to a destinationcountry to which the specification information is transmitted, thensends to the maker server 312′.

By the way, in the description of the system configuration shown in FIG.69, for convenience's sake, an instance in which mailing address of thespecification information to be transmitted includes two countries willbe described. More specifically, a case of sending the specificationinformation to one country where JIS terms are used as standard terms,namely, Japan, and to another country where IEC terms are used asstandard terms will be described.

The user terminal 201 is connected via network 103-1 to the link server313′. This network 103-1 is LAN, WAN of intranet, or Internet. By theway, in this instance, the user terminal 201 is assumed to receive andtransmit information in Japan.

Further, maker server 312′ is connected via network 103-2 to link server313′. This network 103-1 is, for example, an intranet such as LAN, WAN,or an Internet. In this instance, the maker server 312′-1 is a server ofJapanese parts maker A, and the maker server 312′-2 is a server of aparts maker E in a foreign country where IEC terms are used as standardterms.

The link (tie-up) server 313′ owns a database, in which terms of theparts are stored. In this database are stored unique terms that are usedby respective parts makers in the world, and the standard terms that areused as industrial standard terms in each country or in each district.In this database, respective unique terms locally used by Japanese partsmakers A, B, C and D, as well as. JIS terms and IEC terms are stored.

The link server 313′, after converting the terms used in thespecification information received from user terminal 201 to thestandard terms corresponding to the destination country of thespecification information on the basis of the terms stored in theabove-mentioned database, can transmit it to the maker server 312′. Morespecifically, if a mailing address of the specification information is aJapanese parts maker A, the link server 313′, after converting the termsused in the specification information received from the user terminal201 to the JIS terms, transmits it to the maker server 312′. On theother hand, if the mailing address of the specification information is aparts maker E in abroad, the link server 313′, after converting theterms used in the specification information received from the userterminal 201 to the IEC terms, transmits it to the maker server 312′.

Further, the link server 313′, on the basis of the terms stored in itsdatabase, converts the terms used in the response information receivedfrom the maker server 312′ to the JIS terms, then can transmit it to theuser terminal 201. By the way, this database is a relational typedatabase, wherein the unique terms of the respective parts makers andthe industrial standard terms are expressed in a two-dimensional table.An example of standard term database 351 on the basis of this table isshown in FIG. 70.

As shown in FIG. 70, items in this table include JIS terms, IEC terms,terms of corporation A, terms of corporation B, terms of corporation Cand terms of corporation D, and the unique terms of the respectivecorporations are correlated with JIS terms as well as IEC terms.

The other structures and functions of the link server 313′, because theyare substantially the same as in the system configuration shown in FIG.65, illustration and description thereof will be omitted here. Further,the structures and functions of the user terminal 201 and the makerserver 312′ are substantially the same as the instance described above,illustration and description thereof will be omitted here. Stillfurther, because the procedures from the transmission of thespecification information to the parts makers until the purchase of theparts are substantially the same as the instance described above, theillustration and description thereof will be omitted here.

As described hereinabove, because that the link server 313′ receives thespecification information from the user terminal 201, converts the termsused in this specification information to the standard termscorresponding to the country of the mailing address of the specificationinformation, then sends it to the maker server 312′, the user can save atask of translating the specification name the user knows to a foreignlanguage as well as associating the same to the specification name ofthe parts makers at the mailing address of the specificationinformation. Thereby, the user can easily convey the specificationinformation the user desires to purchase to the parts makers in abroad.Further, the user can easily obtain parts specifications also fromabroad.

Further, the user, even if the user does not know the standard termsused in the country the specification information is to be transmitted,can acquire parts specifications from abroad. Namely, even if the userdoes not have enough knowledge of particular parts, the user can obtainthe parts specifications easily from the parts makers in abroad.

Still further, because the link server 313′ automatically executes theterm conversion, any transmission errors of the specificationinformation due to a difference in languages can be prevented. That is,the user is ensured to be able to convey precisely the specificationinformation the user desires to purchase to the parts makers in abroad.

Further, because the link server 313′ converts the terms used in thespecification information to the industrial standard terms correspondingto the country of the mailing address of the specification information,the user is not required to examine the specification name of thedesired parts for each country. Namely, the user can reducesubstantially the time to be spent in obtaining the parts specificationsfrom abroad.

Still further, because the specification information of the desiredparts is transmitted to the parts makers in abroad via Internet, theuser can convey the specification information of the desired parts tothe parts makers in abroad without a time lag, and surely. Thereby, theuser can shorten the time to be spent in conveyance of the specificationinformation to the parts makers in abroad.

Still more, because that the link server 313′ receives responseinformation corresponding to the specification information from themaker server 312′, converts the terms used in the response informationreceived to the standard terms used in the country of the user, andsends it to the user terminal 201, the user can save tedious andpains-taking work to translate the terms used in the specificationinformation contained in the response information to the mother languageof the user, and to correlate the specification information contained inthe response information to specification information the user canunderstand. Thereby, the time to be spent after receipt of the responseinformation until the decision to purchase the parts can be reduced.

Further, the user, even if without enough knowledge and materials of theterms used by the parts makers in abroad, can read easily the responseinformation received from the makers in abroad. Namely, the user,without a need of being fully acquainted with the parts of the partsmakers in abroad, can easily understand the response information.

In the next, a term conversion system according to still anotherembodiment of the present invention will be described. Because aschematic configuration of the still another embodiment is substantiallythe same as the term conversion system shown in FIG. 65 and describedabove, the illustration and description thereof will be omitted. In theforegoing embodiment described with reference to FIG. 65, it isdescribed by way of the example, in which the link server 313, afterconverting the terms in the specification information received from theuser terminal 201 to the standard terms, transmits to the maker server312, however, in the still another embodiment, it will be described byway of example, in which the link server 313, after converting the termsin the specification information received from the user terminal to theterms unique to the makers at the mailing address, transmits thereto.

The link server 313 owns a database, and in this database are storedterms of the parts. In this database are stored unique terms unique toeach parts maker and industrial standard terms. The industrial standardsterms refer to terms commonly used throughout the respective makers,more specifically, refer to national industrial standard terms such asJIS terms and IEC terms. By the way, in this case, the industrialstandard terms stored in the database will be described as JIS terms.

The link server 313, on the basis of the terms stored in the database,after converting the terms used in the specification informationreceived from the user terminal 201 to the terms corresponding to themaker at the mailing address of the specification information, isenabled to send it to the maker server 312. For example, if the mailingaddress of the specification information is the corporation A, the linkserver 313, after converting the terms used in the specificationinformation received from the user terminal 201 to the unique termsproper to the corporation A, transmits it to the maker server 312 at thecorporation A.

Further, the link server 313, on the basis of the specificationinformation stored in its database, after converting the terms used inthe response information received from the maker server 312 to the JISterms, is enabled to send it to the user terminal 201. By the way, thisdatabase is a relational type database, in which the unique terms properto each parts maker and the industrial standard terms are expressed in a2-dimensional relational table. The database according to this table isenabled to use the standard term database 321 shown in FIG. 66.

The constructions and functions of the other link servers 313 areapproximately the same as those of the link server 313 described above,thereby, their illustration and description will be omitted here.Further, because the constructions and functions of the user terminal201 and the maker server 312 are approximately the same as those in theinstance described above, their illustration and description will beomitted here. Still further, because the procedures from thetransmission of the specification information to the parts makers untilthe purchase of the parts are approximately the same as in theabove-mentioned case, their description will be omitted.

As described heretofore, according to the still another embodiment ofthe invention, because that the link server 313 receives thespecification information from the user terminal 201, converts the termsused in this specification information to the terms proper to the makerat the mailing address of the specification information, and sends it tothe maker server 312, the user can advantageously save a tedious,troublesome work to correspond the specification information the userknows to the specification information of the parts maker. Thereby, theuser is enabled easily to convey the specification information of thedesired parts to the parts maker. Further, the user can shorten the timespent in obtaining the parts specifications from the makers.

Further, by sending once the specification information of the desiredparts from the user to the link server 313, the link server 313 isenabled to send the specification information to all makers that areregistered in the link server 313. That is, the user is no more requiredto correlate the specification name the user knows with thespecification name used at the mailing address of the specificationinformation for each maker, thereby, the time spent in obtaining theparts specifications from respective makers can be substantiallyreduced.

Heretofore, the embodiments of the invention have been describedspecifically, however, the present invention is not limited thereto, andit should be understood that many other modifications, changes,variations can be contemplated within the scope of the presentinvention.

For example, the invention has been described by way of example, inwhich the terms of respective parts makers are stored corresponding toJIS terms, however, it is not limited to the JIS terms, but also theterms of the respective parts makers may be stored corresponding to theIEC terms.

Further, according to the embodiment described above, although it isdescribed that the specification information from the user is sent toall the parts makers that are registered in the link server 313,however, it may be arranged also such that the specification informationis sent only to the makers desired by the user. More specifically, itmay be arranged such that after the user inputs the specificationinformation on the specification information input display screen, amaker selection display screen is displayed at the user terminal 201,and the user selects a parts maker to transmit the specificationinformation on this maker selection display screen.

Further, according to the embodiment described above, although it isdescribed by way of example, in which the link server 313 converts theterms used in the response information received from the maker server312 to the standard terms, and transmits it to the user terminal 201,however, it may be arranged also such that the maker server 312transmits the response information directly to the user terminal 201.

Still further, according to the embodiment described above, it isdescribed by way of the example where the table pertaining to the termsof the parts is prepared for each kind of the parts, however, it may bearranged also that the table pertaining to the terms of the parts isprepared for each maker. Further, a table describing all the terms mayalso be provided.

Further, in the embodiment described above, it may be arranged that theoperating company of the link server collects a fee from the user. Morespecifically, the user, when purchasing the parts, sends the user IDgiven to the user in advance together with the parts number to the linkserver, and the link server receives this parts number and the user ID.Then, the operating company of the link server, on the basis of theparts number and the user ID, withdraws amount of a bill of the partsand a commission fee from the bank account of the user, and transfersthe amount of the bill of the parts to the bank account of the partsmaker.

By the way, there may be provided a single server having both thefunctions of the search server 203 shown in FIG. 51 and the link server313 shown in FIG. 65. That is, such a single server can convert theterms and also execute search operation on the basis of the conversionthereof.

As described hereinabove, in the LCA system and for searching the partsrelating thereto, various databases are involved. For example, the makerof the products (purchaser side 101) is normally provided with a partsdatabase (for example, the parts information database 111 shown in FIG.43) for managing the parts to be used in the product.

It is possible that there exists unnecessary data, in the partsdatabase, of unnecessary parts that have become obsolete due to aninterruption of manufacture of a product or elapse of its maintenanceperiod. It is useless to include such data of the obsolete parts intothe database. Although it is possible manually to remove such data ofthe obsolete parts, this work will be substantial and inefficient.

As a method to solve this problem, it is contemplated that by obtaininga data which has no record of shipment for the past several years(hereinafter referred to as inoperative parts list) from the partsmakers supplying the parts to the user, the user searches throughunnecessary parts data on the basis of this inoperative parts list,then, a work efficiency in the removal of the obsolete data of theunnecessary parts and the like can be achieved.

However, because the inoperative parts lists obtained from respectiveparts suppliers are written in various formats, it is required toexecute a sequential browsing of the inoperative parts list as apreliminary step for the subsequent work to follow. In the sequentialbrowsing thereof, addition of necessary information and deletion ofunnecessary information are performed. However, there is a problem thatactual work time to be spent in the sequential browsing is enormous andhuman error is likely to arise. Thereby, a fast and precise conversionto a standardized format has been difficult.

Therefore, to solve these problems described above is important in orderto construct an user friendly system. In the following, an updateapparatus and a method for updating parts database capable ofefficiently updating the parts database on the basis of the inoperativeparts lists received from the parts makers and suppliers will bedescribed.

FIG. 71 is a diagram showing a configuration of an update apparatus forupdating a parts database according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. A user terminal 201 shows a terminal at a maker thatmanufactures and sells, for example, electronic devices, and the makerprovided with this terminal is a company in a position to purchasevarious parts involved in the manufacture and sales of these electronicdevices from suppliers. To Web server 401, respective suppliers, forexample, respective maker servers 312-1 to 312-N of respective partsmakers are connected via a network 103 such as Internet or the like.

Further, to the Web server 401 and the user terminal 201, a partsdatabase 402 which is managed by a purchaser 101 are connected. Althoughthe parts database 402 is provided at a position illustrated in thedrawing, it may be also stored in a storage unit (not shown) providedwithin the user terminal 201 or Web server 401. Further, this partsdatabase 402 corresponds to the parts information database 111 shown inFIG. 43.

The maker servers 312-1 to 312-N, although not shown, are connected to arespective parts database storing respective parts that can be suppliedto the customers from respective makers. More specifically, the userterminal 201 and the maker servers 312-1 to 312-N are a personalcomputer with Web browser and electronic mail software preinstalled.

The parts maker (supplier 102) supplies parts in response to an orderfrom the product maker (purchaser 101) In response to a request from theuser (product maker), data of inoperative parts lists are transmittedfrom the maker servers 312-1 to 312-N to the Web server 401. Theinoperative parts list is a list of parts which were not shipped to theproduct maker from the supplier for the past three years, for example.Respective suppliers prepare the inoperative parts list according totheir own formats, and transmit. For example, the inoperative parts listis data written in Excel (Trade Name) (hereinafter referred to as Exceldata).

The user terminal 201 holds the inoperative parts list accepted from thesupplier in the Web server 401, and causes the inoperative parts liststored in the Web server 401 to be converted to a standardized formatinoperative parts list. This conversion processing is executedautomatically by software (without troubling the user). By referring tothe standardized format inoperative parts lists, the parts database 402is updated. Updating of the parts database 402 is executed by the userterminal 201, however, a dedicated personal computer for exclusive useof the database may be provided as well.

By the way, the user terminal 201, the maker servers 312-1 to 312-N atthe suppliers and the Web server 401 have basically the same structuresas the PC 10 shown in FIG. 11, thereby their descriptions will beomitted.

Processing to be executed under control of the user terminal 201 will bedescribed further in detail. FIG. 72 is a flowchart showing a 0^(th)processing of the inoperative parts list received from the supplier(parts maker). In a first step S401, an original copy of the file(inoperative parts list) received from the supplier is stored in apredetermined storing area. A recipient desk who actually receives thefile from the supplier is at a material/procurement department or thelike in the company.

The inoperative parts lists as sent from the suppliers are written inunique formats and unique expressions proper to respective suppliers,thereby, they are not in a unified status that they can be manageduniformly. Therefore, after identifying respective contents as correctlyas possible and carrying out the standardized conversion, the unifiedmanagement can be operated.

In the next step S402, an accepted file is determined if it is a newfile. If determined to be a new file, in step S403, a process to inputsupplier information is executed. For example, information such as asupplier's code, a company name of supplier, a phonetic transcription inkana of the company, a person in charge, date of submission and the likeare read from the inoperative parts list and is inputted.

If it is determined not a new file in step S402, the input process ofthe step of S403 is skipped. Then, in step S404, for a progress control,the date, the person in charge and the like are inputted upon everyprogress. The progress here refers to receiving data from the supplier,consulting with other databases and the like.

In step S405, it is determined if it is a primary data or not. Theprimary data refers to the data as received from the supplier, namely,it means untreated data. If it is the primary data, in step S406, aprimary processing is executed, if not, in step S407, a secondaryprocessing is executed. After the primary or the secondary processing iscompleted, a tabulation table is generated as required in step S8.

FIG. 73 is a flowchart for describing the primary processing in the stepS406 in FIG. 72. The primary data (inoperative parts list) sent from thesupplier (parts maker).is, for example, Excel data written in Excell(Trade Name). In step S411, an original inoperative parts list and acopy thereof are stored in a different place. The copy is prepared for acontingency. For example, the storage of the original file is in afolder “F:\PANDA PJ\Data\Org\PRC Supplier”, and the storage of the copyis in a folder “F:\PANDA PJ\Data\Org\PRC Temp”.

In the next step S412, an application (Microsoft Excel (Trade Name)) isactivated, and in accordance with a preset program flow, a processing onthe file of the copy in the “F:\PANDA PJ\Data\Org\PRC Temp” is executed,thereby standardizing the inoperative parts list supplied from thesuppliers. Namely, the inoperative parts lists supplied from respectivesuppliers are converted to the standardized format of the inoperativeparts list.

FIG. 74 shows an example of standardized inoperative parts lists. Acolumn on the utmost left-hand side of a sheet is “No.”, and respectivecolumns toward the right-hand side in succession, are “supplier's code”,“supplier's name”, “part name”, “specific die”, “last order” (“date”,“quantity”, “from”), and “comments”. Further, corresponding to the wholepart of the sheet, boxes of “person in charge”, “contact at”, “date ofentry” are provided. In FIG. 74, in the first row numbered “1”, samplesof contents for respective columns are described.

In order to convert the inoperative parts list supplied from thesuppliers to the predetermined format as shown in FIG. 74, the followingprocessing to be described later will be applicable.

For example, processing such as a release of unnecessary inter-cellassociation, a data format text conversion, a provision of suppliercodes within the same file, unification of information in respectiverows, unified expression of Yes/No field and the like will beapplicable.

By activating the software automatically to execute the above-mentionedprocessing, the inoperative parts lists supplied from the partssuppliers can be converted to the standardized inoperative parts list(in Excel file) without troubling the user. A prefix “PRC” is attachedto a file name of the inoperative parts list after the conversion, andthe file is stored in a folder “F:\PANDA PJ\Data\Org\Import File”.Namely, as the file name, “PRC previous file name previous sheet name.xls” is used. Here, the prefix has a function as an index to indicatethat this file is in a predetermined format in subsequent dataprocessing steps to follow, and is used to discriminate from other filesin the same folder.

If the inoperative parts list from the supplier cannot be standardizedby the software, a prefix of “NG” is attached to the file name in theinoperative parts list (Excel file), and is stored in folder “F:\PANDAPJ\Data\Org\NG”. That is, as the file name, “NG previous file nameprevious sheet name.xls” is used. By the way, this automatic operationis repeated until all the files within “F:\PANDA PJ\Data\org\PRC Temp”are gone.

In step S413, an application (Micosoft ACCESS (Trade Name) is activated,and the inoperative parts list generated in the file “F:\PANDAPJ\Data\Import File” and gone through the standardizing processing isread in the management database, thereby executing unification ofrespective inoperative parts lists from the respective suppliers, whichwere handled separately.

On the basis of parts number information in the inoperative parts listhaving been converted, the parts numbers are sorted in accordance with acontent division. Examples of the content divisions are “electricity”,“mechanical”, “semiconductor”, “supplementary materials”, “assemblyparts”, “service parts” and “others”. By this sorting operation, theselection of a search object becomes easy.

An item (parts number, hereinafter referred to as P/N) necessary forsearching the parts in the management database (this search will bereferred to and PADICS search) is selected, then, in a format readableby the application (Microsoft Excel), with a prefix of “divisioninformation and date of processing” attached to the file name, it isgenerated and stored in the folder “F:\PANDA PJ\Data\Export File”,thereby enabling a plurality of batch processing to be executed at once.

In step S414, a processing for integrating a plurality of suppliers tobe filed in one Excel file is executed. This process is for generating.Excel data in response to a request from the user.

FIG. 75 shows an example of standardizing processing to be executed instep S412. In step S421, the primary data (Excel data) is stored in thefolder, and in step S422, presence of a copy file of the supplier filein the Temp file is examined. If the file does not exist, the processingterminates in step S423.

If the file exists in the Temp folder, in step S424, it is determined ifthe file is in a format within an expected range that can be processed.This decision is done by reading information in each cell andrecognizing how the sheet is structured.

In step S424, if it is determined not in the format in the range thatcan be processed, the step proceeds to S425, the prefix of “NG” isattached to the file name of the Excel file, as described above, and isstored in the folder “F:\PANDA PJ\Data\org\NG” In step S424, if it isdetermined to be in the format within the range that can be processed,in step S426, a range of its standardization is designated, andpositions and numbers of rows and columns in the range designated areconfirmed.

Then, in step 427, by designating a full size/half size, deleting “-”,and the like, the supplier codes, part number P/N are standardized. Instep S428, standardized Excel data is outputted. A file name of thisoutputted data is “PRC previous file name previous sheet name.xls”.Then, the process returns from step S428 to step S422. Then, when allfiles in the folder “F:\PANDA PJ\Data\org\Temp”, which stores thestandardization operation in a copy file, are gone, the steps S422 andto follow are repeated.

By the way, the standardization processing shown in FIG. 75 is oneexample, and any other method, if it can automatically (withouttroubling the user) execute the standardization by means of software, isapplicable to the present invention.

The processing shown in FIG. 73 described above is the primaryprocessing for executing standardization of the inoperative parts list.In the next, the secondary processing (the secondary processing in stepS407 in FIG. 72) to be applied to the data having gone through theprimary processing will be described by referring to a flowchart shownin FIG. 76.

In step S431, an original copy of the PADICS search result list obtainedper batch process file from a requestee is stored in the folder“F:\PANDA PJ\Data\Org\PRC Supplier\PADICS” and a copy file thereof isstored in the folder “F:\PANDA PJ\Data\Org\Temp”. Preparation of thecopy file is for a contingency as described above.

When the application (Microsoft Excel) is started, on the basis of apreset program flow, information necessary for tabulation is selectedfrom the information obtained, and only such information that needs tobe incorporated in the parts database is generated, with a prefix of“ISS” attached, and stored in the folder “F:\PANDA PJ\Data\Import File”.In this instance, the prefix has a function to indicate, in thesubsequent processing, that this file has completed of its primaryprocessing, and is used to discriminate from other files in the samefolder.

The application (Microsoft ACCESS) is started, executed for the folder“F:\PANDA PJ\Data\Import File, and stored in the parts database.

In the flowchart shown in FIG. 76, in step S432, an instance is shownwhere the supplier's sheet is stored in the Temp folder, and a presenceof “Parent” is to be checked. Presence of “Parent” means that one partis used in one product or in a plurality of products. Namely, “Parent”corresponds to a product. In step S432, “No Parent” check is conducted.That is, parts that are not used in the products are checked.

In step S433, the parts number of the part that is found not in use forthe product is put up for CSV. The CSV (Comma Separated Value Format) isa format whereby data of the database or tabulation software arearranged item by item or cell by cell divided with a comma, and storedas a text file.

Then, in step S434, the parts database is updated. That is, the data ofthe parts not in use for the product is deleted from the parts database.By the way, because it is customary that even after stoppage ofmanufacture of the product, a predetermined period of years aredesignated as a parts preservation term, preferably, it is checked ifthe preservation term has elapsed at the same time when the part isfound not in use for the product before identifying unnecessary parts.

In step S435, the referee information is sorted and tabulated accordingto presence of products/parts structures, SDI division, presence of P/Ninformation and the like, and this information is added to theinoperative parts list obtained from the supplier, and is reissued torespective suppliers, to be notified to the suppliers (parts makers) viathe predetermined sections.

When required, respective fields are associated for executing a complextabulation, and which is utilized as a future guideline. As an exampleof tabulation, there are a progress management, an inoperative status,an estimated die disposal rate and the like.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above,and it should be understood that various modifications, changes andapplications can be contemplated without departing from the spirit ofthe present invention. For example, the software for generating theinoperative parts list may also use any application software other thanExcel. Further, the method of receiving the inoperative parts list fromthe supplier may also use, other than the communication, such a methodusing a recording medium which stores the list.

A method of updating the database according to still another embodimentor still more another embodiment that can be added to the features ofthe embodiment will be described in the following.

It is customary, as described above, that the product maker (purchaserside 101) is provided with the parts database system (for example, acombination of the parts database 402 and the Web server 401 shown inFIG. 71). Further, the parts database system may be comprised of aplurality of parts databases.

For example, as shown in FIG. 77, there may be provided four kinds ofparts databases designated by reference symbols of 501A, 501B, 501C and501D, respectively. In the following description, a parts database 501Ais referred to as a parts structure information system (PADICS), a partsdatabase 501B is referred to as a parts purchase information system(SPRINGS), a parts database 501C is referred to as a die accountinformation system (KIS), and a parts database 501D is referred to as aservice parts information system (GRIMS). In FIG. 77, examples of fieldinformation in respective databases are described.

The parts structure information system 501A is a parts configurationinformation system. This system 501A includes fields of a PN (PartsNumber), a date of PN registration, a part name, a registrationdivision, an SDI class (which means a part rating class, the higherrating has the higher generality of use), a history of updating, a PS(Parts Structure: which means a structured model (product)), and thelike.

The parts purchase information system 501B is a parts procurementinformation system. This system 501B includes fields of a PN, a partsname, a purchasing division, a part category, a purchase supplier name,a unit price/currency unit, a purchase price, a history of updating andso on.

The die account information system 501C is a die accounting system. Thissystem 501C includes fields of a PN, a die name, a die owning division,a purchase supplier name, a number of yields (the number that can beyielded from the die), an acquisition price/compensation cost, apreservation sector/inventory sector and so on.

The service parts information system 501D is a service parts informationsystem. This system 501D includes fields of a PN, a PS, a product code,a part name, a purchase supplier name, a stock place/stock quantity, amaintenance sector and so on. The product code is a code to be attacheduniquely to differentiate according to the place of destination of thesame production model having the same F number. For example, thisproduct code is attached to on the basis of a domestic specification, EUspecification or the like. Normally, it coexists with the F number. TheF number, which is similar to PS in the system, means the information ofa structured model (product).

Where there exist a plurality of databases (systems) pertaining to aplurality of parts as described above, for example, when adiscontinuance of a predetermined production model occurs (stoppage ofproduction), in accompaniment with this, a plurality of databases areupdated. In this updating, while as the plurality of the databases sharea part of the field information, their link is not necessarily complete.That is, in the instance of FIG. 77, as a reference key, the PN (partnumber) serves as common field information.

FIG. 78 is a flowchart showing data processing sequences in the systemhaving such the databases as above. Step S501 indicates an occurrence ofdiscontinuance of a production model. In step S502, it is decidedwhether or not the part becomes an object of an obsolete number. Theobsolete number is meant to delete the part data from the database. If apossibility that it is used in different products is high, namely, if itis determined to have a high degree of general use, it is determined notto be treated as an object of obsolete number, and in step S503, the Fnumber is deleted. The information of the structure model that isdiscontinued is deleted.

In step S502, if determined to be an object of obsolete number, in stepS504, in the parts structure information system 501A which is the maindatabase, F number delete processing is executed, and an obsolete numberprocessing obsolescing from the F number is executed. Further, in stepS505, the unit price of the parts which is an object of obsolescingnumber is deleted from the parts purchase information system 501B.

Further, in step S506, the service parts information system 501D isreferred to, and in step S507, it is determined whether or not it is anobject of service, that is, whether or not it is within the preservationterm. Even if there arises a discontinuity, it is mandatory that theparts of the discontinued model should be preserved for a predeterminedperiod of years. If it is not the object of the service, in step S512,the product code is deleted, and if it is the object of the service, instep S513, no processing is executed.

In step S508, in accompaniment with the obsolete number processing, thedie account information system 501C is referred to. Then, in step S509,the presence of the die for the part which is the object of obsolescingnumber is determined. If the die does not exist, in step S513, noprocessing is executed. If the die exists, in step S510, by referring tothe service parts information system 501D, whether or not it is theservice object is checked.

In accordance with a result of step S510, in step S511, it is determinedwhether or not the die should be disposed. If it is not the serviceobject, in step S514, the die information of the part of interest isdeleted. On the other hand, if it is the service object, in step S513,no processing is executed.

Further, in order to reduce the amount of information to be stored inthe above-mentioned database, and in order to lower a price of the partsby a merit of collective procurement, standard parts are set up, and thedesign engineers are urged to utilize these standard parts as many aspossible. More specifically, a specific division or section as a mainpromoter sets up standard parts in respective fields ofelectrical/electronic, mechanical, semiconductor, et al., and prepares astandard parts table describing information of the standard parts thusset up. Then, this standard parts table is stored in the databasesystem.

Also, the product maker, in order to select a necessary part duringdesign work, utilizes the above-mentioned parts database system. At thisselection of the part, it is general to use PN as the search key.

FIG. 79 is a flowchart describing sequential steps of parts selectionprocedures. At first, in step S531, the design engineer, on the basis ofa specification of a desired object part, extracts a PN from a“cataloged brochure” or a “standard rating parts table”, inputs thisextracted PN on the search screen displayed on the terminal device, andsends this PN inputted to the parts structure information system 501A.

In step S532, the parts structure information system 501A receives thePN inputted on the search screen in step S531, and determines if partsinformation corresponding to the PN exists or not in the database. If itis judged no part corresponding to the PN exists, the parts structureinformation system 501A transfers the processing to step S533. If it isjudged a part corresponding to the PN exists, the parts structureinformation system 501A transfers the processing to step S534.

If in step S532 no part corresponding to the PN is judged to be presentin the database, in step S533, the parts structure information system501A causes a part registration screen to be displayed on the terminaldevice prompting the user to register the object part, stores theinformation inputted via this display screen in the database, andtransfers the processing to step S536.

On the other hand, when in step S532 a part corresponding to the PN isjudged to exist in the database, in step S534, the part structureinformation system 501A judges if a part similar to the partcorresponding to the PN exists in the database or not.

In step S534, if it is judged that a part similar to the partcorresponding to the PN does not exist in the database, the partstructure information system 501A transfers the processing to step S536.

On the other hand, in step S534, if it is judged that a part similar tothe part corresponding to the PN exists in the database, in step S535,the part structure information system 501A judges if a standard ratingpart is included in the part corresponding to the PN and the partsimilar to the part corresponding to the PN.

In step S535, if it is judged that the standard rating part is notincluded, in step S536, the part structure information system 501Acauses the part information corresponding to the PN to be displayed onthe screen of the terminal device.

On the other hand, in step S535, if it is judged that the standardrating part is included, in step S537, the part structure informationsystem 501A causes only information of the part that is the standardrating parts, within the parts corresponding to the PN and the partssimilar to the part corresponding to the PN to be displayed on thescreen of the terminal device.

Update processing of the database system to be executed as describedabove is executed independently in a plurality of databases. Forexample, although data is updated in the part structure informationsystem 501A, its contents are not reflected on other databases. Inaddition, link processing for linking (associating) between the F numberand the product code is not adequate. Further, even once in step S508,update information of the part structure information system 501A isdisplayed to the die account information system 501C, however, in stepS509, if the die exists, updating in the die account information system501C is withheld.

Thereafter, any system reference between the part structure informationsystem 501A and the die account information system 501C is not executed.The maintenance control is committed to the die account informationsystem 501C. That is, in principle, a respective maintenance control ofa respective database is executed independently. However, in such astatus as above, the following problem is likely to arise.

Because of the independent maintenance control of the data in theplurality of the databases, even if the field information is sharedamong them, reference of information is required to be executedindividually. Thereby, sometimes, it may occur that respectiveinformation retained differs in mutual databases.

A record relevance between the databases must be declared in mutualdatabases in advance. However, if the mutual databases are operatedindependently, these procedures are not executed in a most case, and inthe case where mutual complementation or the like is to be executed, itis necessary to confirm and coordinate field formats or the likebeforehand.

Basically, a record updating between the databases is required to beoperated in linkage. However, in the present situation where they areoperated independently, these procedures must be executed in eachsystem. Then, consistency with each other must be ensured afterward.

In order to execute the above-mentioned intersystem linkage,coordination of existing systems or reconfiguration thereof is required,thereby inevitably interrupting respective system flows.

Further, in the part selection processing described above, the followingproblem may arise.

Because that updating of the part information registered in the databasesystem is not performed in sequence at each occasion, it is not seldomthat a deviation arises between the part information registered in thedatabase and the part information introduced on the catalog brochureand/or the standard rating parts table.

Because the updating of the part information registered in the databaseis manually processed, it is also not seldom that the part informationis erroneously registered due to input error.

In the part selection processing, because the part selection is executedon the basis of PN, an ambiguous search within respective fields(categories.) on the basis of technical specifications is difficult.That is, due to non-setting of link between similar parts or due toinadequate searching, such an instance is considered to occur thatinformation of a desired part or information of a part similar to thedesired part cannot be extracted. In such an instance, even if theinformation of the desired part exists in the database, or analternative similar part exists in the database, it is considered thatthis part information is newly to be registered (once again).

In the above-mentioned part database system, the part information onceregistered will be retained for ever unless a delete action ispositively taken. Thereby, a problem may occur that unnecessary partinformation increases thereby introducing a substantial increase in theamount of information in respective databases interlinked. Further, anincrease in the cost of the part maintenance management may result.

As a result of execution of the standardization activity, even in thecase where the whole record data in a specific field in the systemconcerned are unified, such a problem may occur that due to a necessityof storing these unified fields and data to be maintained, excessiveinformation may result in.

Because of inadequate allocation of the standard parts, a problem may beconsidered to arise that a price reduction by the merit of collectiveprocurement is not sufficiently performed.

In order to carry out the link operation between the respective partsdatabase systems, coordination or a reconfiguration of the existingsystems becomes necessary, thereby causing a problem that respectivesystems are inevitably interrupted during this period.

Further, as to the standard parts described above, it is possible thatthe following problem may arise. When setting up the standard parts,because not only its set up criterion is unclear and indefinite, butalso it is performed manually, they may deviate from actual status, as aresult, a speedy set up of the standard parts is considered preferable.

The standard parts table described above is not directly linked with theparts database system, therefore, if there occurs any change in thestandard parts table, consistency must be secured between the respectivedatabase systems and the standard parts table.

Therefore, the following database system and a method of updating thesame, a database control apparatus and a method of controlling the same,as well as a database control program for solving the above-mentionedproblems will be described.

In the following, by referring to FIG. 80, an embodiment of the presentinvention will be described. Also, in the description of the presentembodiment with reference to FIG. 80, the four kinds of the databases(parts structure information system 501A, parts purchase informationsystem 501B, die account information system 501C and service partsinformation system 501D) described with reference to FIG. 77 are assumedto be provided. Data fields contained in respective databases are thesame as shown in FIG. 77.

In FIG. 80, reference symbols S551, S552 and S553 indicate an event thatrequires a maintenance management in a respective database system.Namely, there are shown disposal of the die 5551, discontinuity of theproduct model S552, and termination of the maintenance object modelS553. If any one of them is executed, by referring to the fieldinformation and retained data in the parts structure information system501A, the parts purchasing information system 501B, the die accountinformation system 501C and service parts information system 501D, arelational system 501E temporarily stores information of a format with asimilar structure of fields in these systems concerned. The databasesystem is allowed to execute the reference operation withoutinterrupting the system.

In step S554, as a reference key, a PN (part number) is extracted.Namely, field information commonly applicable to the databases 501A to501D (reference key) is extracted. As a criterion of extraction at thistime, a structure element of the field information such as a fieldformat, a record length, a field name, a full size/half size ofcharacters or the like is used. Of these fields which are containedrespectively in the databases 501A to 501D, any field information ofsuch fields that conform to all of these criteria of extraction or tomore than a predetermined number thereof is extracted as the referencekey. In order to improve its extraction precision, it is preferable toexecute processing with a logical product of these data.

Further, if the field format, record length, field name, full size/halfsize and the like differ respectively between the parts structureinformation system 501A and the parts purchase information system 501B,the die account information system 501C or the service parts informationsystem 50D, after completion of extraction of the reference key, anecessary conversion work is executed within the relational system 501Eto allow for a mutual data sharing to be executed via the relationalsystem 501E.

In step S555, using PN of the part which is an object of the obsoletenumber as the reference key, processing for the databases 501A to 501Dis executed in parallel. That is, using PN as the reference key, a data(record) list is automatically generated (on the basis of apredetermined program) on the databases 501A to 501D, thereby updating(process to add, delete and change) the databases 501A to 501D.

More specifically, in step S556, deletion of PS and deletion of PN areexecuted for the parts structure information system 501A, deletion ofthe unit price registered is executed for the parts purchasinginformation system 501B, deletion of the die information is executed forthe die account information system 501C, and deletion of the productcode and deletion of PS are executed for the service part informationsystem 501D. These processing can be executed without omission.

Further, an automatic mutual reference is executed between the partsstructure information system 501A, the parts purchase information system501B, the die account information system 501C and the service partsinformation system 501D so as to check presence of any difference indata. If a difference in data is found, an update processing is executedvia the relation system 501E. By the way, if required, it may bearranged such that by integrating respective fields across thesesystems, tabulation thereof is executed. For example, tabulation of aprogress control, inoperative status, an estimated die disposal ratioand the like can be generated.

In the next, a parts information search system according to oneembodiment of the invention will be described. FIG. 81 is a diagramshowing a configuration of the parts information search system accordingto another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 81,this parts information search system is comprised of a parts structureinformation system 501A, a parts purchase information system 501B, a dieaccount information system 501C, a customer service operationinformation system 501E, a service parts information system 501D, aparts information search terminal 502 and a Web server 503, which aremainly connected via network 504.

That is, in the parts information search system shown in FIG. 81, inaddition to the four kinds of databases described with reference to FIG.77 (parts structure information system 501A, parts purchase informationsystem 501B, die account information system 501C and service partsinformation system 501D), a database 501E called as a customer serviceoperation information system is provided. In this instance, network 504is an intranet such as LAN (Local Area Network), WAN (Wide AreaNetwork), or an Internet, and corresponds to the network 103 in theembodiment described above.

Further, the parts information search terminal 502 corresponds to theuser terminal 201 (FIG. 51) at the purchaser 101.

By the way, because the database maintenance management in the systemaccording to the embodiment shown in FIG. 81 is approximately the sameas the database maintenance management according to the above-mentionedembodiment described in precedence, the description thereof will beomitted.

The parts information search terminal 502 is for searching the datastored in the parts structure information system 501A, the partspurchasing information system 501B, the die account information system501C, the service parts information system 501D and the customer serviceoperation information system 501E, via Web server 503.

More specifically, URL (Uniform Resource Locator) information istransmitted to Web server 503, and an HTML file corresponding to the URLinformation transmitted is received from the Web server. Then, a Webbrowser of the parts information search terminal 502 analyses the HTMLfile received from the Web server 503, and displays a search displayscreen. Then, the parts information search terminal 502 sendsinformation inputted on this search display screen to the Web server503.

The Web server 503 upon receiving this information, on the basis of theinformation received from the parts information search terminal 52,causes the parts structure information system 501A, the parts purchasinginformation system 501B, the die account information system 501C, theservice parts information system 501D or the customer service operationinformation system 501E to execute a search through the informationstored in their databases.

The parts information search terminal 502 has approximately the samestructure as the PC 10 shown and described with reference to FIG. 86,that is, it can use a personal computer, thereby the illustration anddescription thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 82 shows an example of field information in each database.Reference symbol 1E (501E?) depicts the customer operation informationsystem (GALILEO). In this system 501E, there are contained PS, productcode, production start/stop dates, suppliers, design flag/repair objectflag, and planning/production stoppage flags. By the way, becauserespective fields of the parts structure information system 501A, theparts purchasing information system 501B, the die account informationsystem 501C, and the service parts information system 51D are the sameas those in the embodiment shown in FIG. 77, the description thereofwill be omitted.

Because the configurations of the parts structure information system501A, the parts purchasing information system 501B, the die accountinformation system 501C, the customer service operation informationsystem 501E, and the service parts information system 51D, areapproximately the same as the configuration of the parts informationsearch terminal 502, their description will be omitted.

The Web server 503, in response to a request from the parts informationsearch terminal 502, outputs an HTML file or the like stored therein.Further, the Web server 503, in response to a request from the partsinformation search terminal 502, causes the parts structure informationsystem 501A, the parts purchasing information system 501B, the dieaccount information system 501C, the customer service operationinformation system 501E, and the service parts information system 51D,to execute a search of the part information. By the way, because theconfiguration of the Web server 503 is approximately the same as theparts information search terminal 502, the description thereof will beomitted.

FIGS. 83, 84 and 85 are flowcharts for describing sequential steps ofthe parts information search processing. Here, such an example will bedescribed in which a main database system is the parts structureinformation system 501A, and subordinate database systems are the partspurchasing information system 501B, the die account information system501C, the customer service operation information system 501E, and theservice parts information system 51D.

Steps of the parts information search processing when the user such as adesign engineer selects a desired part on the basis of technicalspecifications will be described. By the way, the main database systemindicates a database system that refers (at a referrer). The subordinatedatabase systems indicate databases that are linked with the maindatabase system.

Firstly, in step S571, the Web server 503 causes a Web browser at theparts information search terminal 502 to display the search displayscreen. By way of example, on this search display screen, fields forinputting information related to a technical specification of the partdesired by the user such as design engineer are provided. Here, theinformation related to the technical specification refers to informationfor designating the specification of the part desired to be searched,for example, such information as a pole capacity, a maximum operatingvoltage, a rated voltage, outer dimension, operating temperature rangeand the like.

FIG. 86 shows an example of search display screen to be displayed on theWeb browser at the parts information search terminal 502. Aspecification name input field 521 is a column for inputting aspecification name of the part the user such as a design engineerdesires to search. Specification input fields 522 and 23(523?) are forinputting a specification of the part the user desires to search, morespecifically, the specification input field 522 is for inputting a lowerlimit value of the specification, and the specification input field 523is for inputting an upper limit value of the specification.

A send button 524 is for instructing to send the information inputtedinto respective fields on the search display screen from the partsinformation search terminal 3 to the Web server 503. By the way, inorder to execute a search of the desired part information by means ofthis search display screen, it is necessary to input at least thespecification name and a specification range corresponding to thisspecification name.

Then, the Web server 503 receives the information inputted on the searchdisplay screen of the parts information search terminal 502, on thebasis of the information received, searches through the parts structureinformation system 501A which is the main system, and on the basis of aresult of this search, generates a field layout. By the way, this fieldlayout includes at least PN.

Subsequently, in step S572, the Web server 503 extracts informationpertaining to an object part of a target from the field layout generatedin step S571. Then, in step S573, the Web server 503 determines whetheror not the part information pertaining to the object part is extracted.If it is determined that the part information pertaining to the objectpart is not extracted, the Web server 503 moves the processing to stepS574, and if it is determined that the part information pertaining tothe object part is extracted, the Web server 503 moves the processing tostep S577.

In step S573, when it is determined that the object part is notextracted, in step S574, the Web server 503 transmits an HTML file fordisplaying the parts information registration display screen to theparts information search terminal 502. By way of example, the partsinformation registration display screen is a display screen forprompting the user such as the design engineer to register the partinformation.

Then, in step S575, the Web server 503 receives the information inputtedon the parts information registration display screen from the partsinformation search terminal 502, causes the parts structure informationsystem 501A to execute a processing to register the received informationin the database, and transmits an HTML file for displaying a partsinformation registration complete display screen to the partsinformation search terminal 502. By way of example, the partsinformation registration complete display screen is a display screen fornotifying the user such as the design engineer of the completion of thepart registration.

Then, in step S576, the parts information search terminal 502 receivesthe HTML file for displaying the parts information registration completedisplay screen from the parts structure information system 501A, and onthe basis of this received HTML file, displays the parts informationregistration complete display screen.

On the other hand, when it was determined in step S573 that the objectpart was extracted, in step S577, the Web server 503 determines if thereexist a plurality of data in a specific field within the recordextracted, for example, if there exist a plurality of values therein. Ifit is determined that there do not exist a plurality of data, in stepS578, the Web server 503 deletes the field information, and moves theprocessing to step S579. If it is determined that a plurality of dataexist, the Web server 503 moves the processing to step S579.

Then, in step S579, the Web server 503 causes the parts purchaseinformation system 501B to execute an analysis of a procurementperformance on the basis of the PN extracted in step S572, and receivesa result of analysis from the parts purchasing information system 501B.More specifically, the Web server 503 causes the parts purchasinginformation system 501B to execute a processing to extract informationpertaining to the number (frequency) of purchases on the basis of the PNextracted in step S572. Then, the Web server 503 receives theinformation pertaining to the number of purchases thus extracted byexecution of this processing from the parts purchasing informationsystem 501B.

Then, in step S580, the Web server 503, on the basis of the PN extractedin step S572, causes for the parts purchase information system 501B toexecute an analysis of unit price information, and receives a result ofanalysis from the parts purchasing information system 501B. Morespecifically, the Web server 503 causes for the parts purchasinginformation system 501B to execute a processing to extract informationpertaining to a unit price/currency unit on the basis of the PNextracted in step S572. Then, the Web server 503 receives theinformation pertaining to the unit price/currency unit extracted byexecution of this processing from the parts purchasing informationsystem 501B.

Then, in step S581, the Web server 503 determines whether or not thepart having the PN extracted in step S572 is a product structure elementpart. If it is determined to be a product structure element part, theWeb server 503 moves the processing to step S592. If it is determinednot to be a product structure element part, the Web server 503 moves theprocessing to step S582.

More specifically, the Web server 503 causes for the parts structureinformation system 501A to execute a processing to search a PS on thebasis of the PN extracted in step S572.

Then, the Web server 503 determines whether or not a PS corresponding tothe PN extracted in step S572 was received from the parts structureinformation system 501A. If it was determined that the PS correspondingto the PN extracted in step S572 was received from the parts structureinformation system 501A, the Web server 503 moves the processing to stepS592. If it was determined that the PS corresponding to the PN extractedin step S572 was not received from the parts structure informationsystem 501A, the Web server 503 moves the processing to step S582.

If it was determined in step S581 that it was not the product structureelement part, in step S582, the Web server 503 determines if a period oftime from the last purchase date of the part which was determined instep S581 not to be the product structure element part until now haselapsed a predetermined period of time or not. Here, the predeterminedperiod of time is, for example, one year. If it was determined that thepredetermined period of time has elapsed, the Web server 503 transfersthe processing to step S583. If it was determined that the predeterminedperiod of time had not elapsed, the Web server 503 transfers theprocessing to step S592.

More specifically, on the basis of the PN of the part which wasdetermined not to be the product structure element part in step S581,the Web server 503 causes for the parts purchasing information system501B to execute a processing to search the last purchase date thereof,and receives information pertaining to the last purchase date searchedfrom the parts purchasing information system 501B. Then, the Web server503 determines if a period of time from the last purchase date receivedfrom the parts purchasing information system 501B until the present timehas elapsed the predetermined period of time. If it was determined thatthe predetermined period of time had elapsed, the Web server 503 movesthe processing to step S583. If it was determined that the predeterminedperiod of time had not elapsed, the parts structure information system501A transfer the processing to step S592. By way of example, areference date for the predetermined period of time is not necessarilylimited to the last purchase date.

If it was determined that the predetermined period of time had elapsed,in step S583, on the basis of the PN of the part which was determined tohave elapsed the predetermined period of time, the Web server 503 causesfor the PADICS 501A to execute a processing to set a flag “ON” of a useprohibit on/off flag provided in advance in the parts structureinformation system 501A. Here, “ON” indicates a use prohibit status, and“OFF” indicates a use allowed status.

Then, in step S584, the Web server 503 causes for the parts structureinformation system 501A to subtract an effective number of PN on the PS,on the basis of the PN of the parts for which the predetermined periodof time was determined to have elapsed in step S582. By the way, in theparts structure information system 501A, a field related to theeffective number of PN on the PS is preset.

Then, in step S585, the parts structure information system 501Adetermines if the effective number of PN on the PS is “0” (in the casethe whole parts were the object of deletion), as a result of processingin step S584. If the effective number of PN on the PS was determined tobe “0”, the parts structure information system 501A transfers theprocessing to step S586. If the effective number of PN on the PS wasdetermined not to be “0”, the parts structure information system 501Amoves the processing to step S588.

In the case the effective number of PN on the PS was determined to be“0” in step S585, the parts structure information system 501A causes, instep S586, for the parts structure information system 501A to execute aprocessing to delete the PN of the parts of which the predeterminedperiod of time was determined to have elapsed in step S582.

Then, in step S587, the Web server 503 causes for the customer serviceoperation information system 501E to execute a processing to delete theproduct code of the part of which the predetermined period of time wasdetermined to have elapsed in step S582. More specifically, the Webserver 503 causes for the customer service operation information system501E to execute the processing to delete the product code stored in thecustomer service operation information system 501E, on the basis of thePN of the part of which the predetermined period of time was determinedto have elapsed in step S582.

Then, in step S588, the Web server 503 determines whether or not thepart of which the predetermined period of time was determined to haveelapsed in step S582 is a non-service object. If not determined to bethe non-service object, the Web server 503 moves the processing to stepS592. If determined to be the non-service object, the Web server 503moves the processing to step S589.

More specifically, the Web server 503 causes for the parts structureinformation system 501A to execute a processing to extract any PS on thebasis of the PN of the parts of which the predetermined period of timewas determined to have elapsed in step S582, then the Web serverreceives this extracted PS from the parts structure information system501A. Then, the Web server 503 causes for the customer service operationinformation system 501E to execute a processing to search a productiontermination date on the basis of the PS received from the partsstructure information system 501A, and receive a result of this searchfrom the customer service operation information system 501E.

Then, the Web server 503, on the basis of the result of search receivedfrom the customer service operation information system 501E, determinesif a time from the production termination date to the present time haselapsed the predetermined period of time. If it is determined not tohave elapsed the predetermined period of time, the Web server 503 movesthe processing to step S592. If it is determined to have elapsed thepredetermined period of time, the Web server 503 moves the processing tostep S589.

If it is determined to be the non-service object in step S588, the Webserver 503 determines in step S589 whether the die of the part which wasdetermined to be the non-service object in step S588 is retained or not.If the die was determined not retained, the parts structure informationsystem 501A moves the processing to step S591. If the die is determinedto be retained, the parts structure information system 501A moves theprocessing to step S590.

More specifically, the Web server 503.causes for the die accountinformation system 501C to execute a processing to search diepresence/absence information, on the basis of the PN of the part whichwas determined to be non-service object in step S588, and receives aresult of this search from the die account information system 501C.Then, the Web server 503, on the basis of the result of search receivedfrom the die account information system 501C, determines whether the dieis retained or not.

In step S589, if the die is judged to be retained, the Web server 503,in step S590, causes for the die account information system 501C toexecute a processing to delete the die information of the part that wasdetermined to be the non-service object in step S588. More specifically,the Web server 503 causes for the die account information system 501C toexecute the processing to delete the die information, on the basis ofthe PN of the part that is determined to be the non-service object instep S588.

Then, in step S591, the Web server 503 causes for the service partsinformation system 501D to execute a processing to delete the productcode of the part that was determined in step S588 to be the non-serviceobject. More specifically, the Web server 503 causes for the serviceparts information system 501D to execute the processing to delete theproduct code on the basis of the PN of the product that was determinedinstep S588 to be the non-service object.

Subsequently, in step S592, the Web server 503 stores a display objectdata (a processed data), for example, in a storage device provided inthe Web server 503.

Then, in step S593, the Web server 503 determines whether the displayobject data exists in a plurality of numbers or not. If the displayobject data was determined to be in a plurality of numbers, the Webserver 503 moves the processing to step S595. If the display object datawas determined not in the plurality of numbers, the Web server 503 movesthe processing to step S594.

In the case the display object data was determined not in the pluralityof numbers in step S593, the Web server 503, by sending the data fordisplaying the display object data in step S594 to the parts informationsearch terminal 502, causes for the parts information search terminal502 to display the display object data on the display screen thereof.

In the case the display object data was determined in step S593 to existin the plurality of numbers, the Web server 503, in step S595, bysending data for displaying the display object data in order of priorityon the screen to the parts information search terminal 502, causes forthe parts information search terminal 502 to display the display objectdata in the order of priority on the display screen thereof. Here, thepriority order refers to, for example, a purchase record, unit priceinformation, stable supply and the like.

By the way, process functions in the Web server 503 described above canbe implemented by executing the program recorded in the recordingmedium. More specifically, a recording medium recording a program forimplementing the above-mentioned process functions in the Web server 503is supplied to the storage device of the Web server 503, the CPU of theWeb server 503 reads and executes the program recorded in the recordingmedium, thereby implementing the above-mentioned process functions inthe Web server 503.

Further, it should be understood that the process functions in the Webserver 503 described above can be implemented not only by that the Webserver 503 executes the program recorded in the recording medium, butalso by that the Web server 503 receives a program for implementing theabove-mentioned process functions in the Web server 503 via the network,and executes the program thus received.

Thereby, by applying the system shown in FIG. 81,the followingadvantages and effects are achieved. A search to uniquely extracttechnical specifications pertaining to respective parts from the main(mainframe) system is enabled. Thereby, the problem of the duplicatedregistration in the parts database system, namely, the duplicatedregistration because of no hit of identical parts due to a delay inset-up of the similar parts or inadequate searching can be prevented.

Further, the parts information search terminal 502, which is providedwith a web browser capable of browsing a web page, and can analyze theinformation sent from the mainframe and display on the display screenusing this web browser, has no limitation imposed as the terminal in thesystem configuration.

Further, when searching the parts, by analyzing the status ofappropriation/allocation of the parts to another product, which is alsoa candidate for display, and/or an elapsed period of time from the dateof registration, the data stored in the parts structure informationsystem 501A, the parts purchasing information system 501B, the dieaccount information system 501C, the service parts information system501D and the customer service operation information system 501E can bedeleted, thereby enabling automatically to control the registration lifeof the parts.

Further, it is no more required to perform a processing to delete theobsolete data positively from the respective database systems. Thereby,an increase in the numbers of the parts items to be stored in therespective databases can be suppressed. Therefore, a maintenance costconventionally required for maintenance of consistent information inrespective systems linked can be reduced. Still further, when searchingthe parts, because the unnecessary parts information is deleted, theunnecessary parts are no more required to be maintained. Thereby, themaintenance management cost of the parts can be reduced simultaneously.

Still further, at the time of searching, similar parts can beautomatically tabulated by an integrated processing.

Still more, because the result of the search is displayed in accordancewith comparative merits in prices, degrees of purchase records,stability of supply and the like, the standardization criteria of theparts can be clarified.

Furthermore, because the standardization of the parts can be performedwithout manual processing, a deviation from the actual status can beprevented. Namely, a speedy parts standardization promotion activity isfacilitated.

In the case where the data in a specific field is unified by theautomatic tabulation, because this specific field and the data in thisspecific field can be deleted, excessive information than is requiredcan be suppressed.

Because positioning of the parts as the standard parts becomes clearer,reduction in prices by the merit of concentrated procurement of theparts can be fully and smoothly achieved. Here, the standard parts referto such parts that are selected as a general purpose part in industrialfields such as electric/electronic/semiconductor industries.

Because mutual complementation between systems can be executed,adjustments of existing systems or reconfiguration thereof in order toestablish a linkage between the systems are no more required, therebyeliminating interruption in respective systems at the time ofinterconnection thereof. Further, the maintenance management of thesesystems is readily facilitated.

Still further, consistency between respective systems and updating ofdata can be secured and executed sequentially in routine work.

Further, the result of the search can display the priority rank in orderof priority. Thereby, such parts having a higher priority rank arelikely to be used intensively by the user such as the design engineer.Thereby, the parts to be used can be intensified. Further, excessiveissuance (registration) of similar parts as the result of inadequatesearch can be prevented.

Heretofore, the exemplary embodiments of the present invention have beendescribed, however, the present invention is not limited thereto, and itshould be understood that many other modifications, changes andvariations can be contemplated within the scope of the invention.

For example, any database system including two or more databases canapply the present invention.

Further, at a predetermined timing (other than during the partsinformation search operation), by also causing for the service partsinformation system 501D and the die account information system 501C toutilize and execute the relational system, the future handling of thenon-standard parts may be examined.

Further, as required, respective fields (PN) may be combined, andcomplex tabulation may be carried out so as to help plan a futureguideline. For example, it may be used in a progress management,inoperative status control, an estimated die disposal ratio and thelike.

Still further, the database system having the databases storing thestandard parts tables may be linked with the parts structure informationsystem 501A, the parts purchase information system 501B, the die accountinformation system 501C, the, service parts information system 501D andthe customer service operation information system 501E. Thereby, afterthe execution of the parts information processing described by referringto FIGS. 83, 84 and 85, the processing to secure consistency of thestandard parts table with the parts structure information system 501A,the part purchase information system 501B, the die account informationsystem 501C, the service parts information system 501D and the customerservice operation information system 501E can be omitted. Thereby, thesteps required for the maintenance management of the parts databasesystem can be reduced substantially.

Further, when it was determined that the object part was not extractedin step S573, it may be arranged such that, in order to clarify adifference between an object record (an estimated record as a result ofthe search) and a similar record other than that, a field registrationand data entry of these records concerned may be executed. Further, ifthe data within a specific field in the whole records throughout thesystem is completely the same, data sharing may be implemented bydeletion of the field and deletion of the data in the correspondingrecords. Thereby, the amount of information within the system can beoptimized automatically and constantly.

Further, automatically generating unification/standardization of similarrecords on the basis of the priority order of the corresponding recordsas a reference, and using the contents thereof, it may be arranged sothat also in mutually linked database systems, addition, updating,deletion of data are automatically executed.

Furthermore, when extracting the information pertaining to the objectpart aimed at in step S572, if all the data on the specific field arecompletely the same, in the whole records on the parts structureinformation system 501A, this field information may be deleted. Morespecifically, at the time when extracting the information pertaining tothe object part of interest in step S572, if all the data on thespecific field are completely the same, the Web server 503 causes forthe parts structure information system 501A to execute a processing todelete this field information. By the way, when executing thisprocessing, the processing in step S578 described above may be omitted.Thereby, by streamlining unnecessary information, excessive informationcan be suppressed.

It should be understood that the above-mentioned embodiments can beapplied in combination. Further, by executing a most preferablecombination thereof, an LCA system easier to use can be constructed.

In the LCA system, by updating the parts data for constituting thesystem in the manner as described above, the data of the parts in use isensured to be most update and significant, further, by allowing for theparts data to be searched in the manner as described above, a mostpreferred part can be searched easily and quickly from among a pluralityof parts having similar specifications.

Although the above-mentioned sequential processing can be executed byhardware, but also it can be executed by software. In case thesequential processing is to be executed by software, a programconstituting this software is incorporated into a dedicated hardware ina computer, or the program is installed from its recording medium into,for example, a general purpose personal computer which can executevarious functions by installing various programs.

As shown in FIG. 11, the recording medium to be distributed to the userfor providing a program, separate from the personal computer, iscomprised of: package media such as a magnetic disc 61 recording theprogram (including a flexible disc), an optical disc 62 (CD-ROM (CompactDisk-Read Only Memory), a DVD (includes a Digital Versatile Disk), aphoto-magnetic disc 63 (including MD (Mini-Disc): Trade Name), or aSemiconductor memory 64; and also a hard disk including a ROM 42 and astorage device 48 storing the program to be provided to the user in astatus of preinstalled in the computer.

Further, in the present specification, the steps describing the programto be provided by means of the media should be understood to include notonly a processing to be executed in time series in order of description,but also a processing to be executed in parallel or separately, notnecessarily in time series.

Still further, in the present specification, the system represents awhole apparatus including a plurality of apparatuses.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

According to the information processing system described hereinabove,because it is arranged that the first information processing apparatusmanages the database the information processing system handles, thesecond information processing apparatus adds data in the databasepertaining to a predetermined division to the database, the thirdinformation processing apparatus extracts data from the database forcalculating an environmental load volume on the basis of the informationof the product inputted and calculates the environmental load volume,the calculation of the environmental load volume can be executed easilyand simply.

Further, according to the first information processing apparatus, themethod thereof and the program, because it is arranged that a respectiveinventory data is prepared, a aggregate data is generated from aplurality of inventory data, and a aggregate data for calculating theenvironmental load volume is extracted from the database including theinventory data and the aforementioned aggregate data, handling andprocessing of the inventory data and the aggregate data becomes easythereby enabling the environmental load volume to be calculated simplyand easily.

Still further, according to a second information processing apparatus, amethod and a program thereof, including the steps of: managing the tablein which the user and the authorization belonging to the user arecorrelated; managing the database including the inventory data and theaggregate data; identifying the authorization of the user by referringto the table under management from the data inputted; and providing theimage data corresponding to the authorization of the user identifiedabove, thereby the processing required until the environmental loadvolume is obtained is simplified and facilitated, thereby enabling forthe environmental load volume to be obtained easily.

According to a third information processing apparatus, a method, and aprogram thereof, including: providing information pertaining to theparts that satisfy the predetermined condition to other apparatuses; andupon a request to store in memory of the predetermined part from anotherapparatus, only when the predetermined part is determined to conform tothe predetermined condition, the predetermined part is enabled to bestored in memory, thereby, the processing required for the procurementand delivery of the parts can be reduced.

According to the parts search apparatus and the parts search system ofthe invention, wherein the parts search apparatus stores the partsinformation containing at least the parts specification informationcommon to the respective parts makers, searches through the partsinformation stored in response to the search request information fromthe user terminal, outputs the search result information correspondingto the search result, and sends the search result information to theuser terminal, thereby enabling for the user to search the partsinformation of the desired specification simultaneously and easily fromthe parts information of the plurality of parts makers. Thereby, a lotof time conventionally spent by the user in the search of the parts canbe reduced substantially.

Further, advantageously, on the display screen displayed at the userterminal in accordance with the search result information received fromthe parts search apparatus, there are displayed the parts of the samespecification belonging to different makers and their prices, therebyenabling for the user easily to compare prices of the parts of the samespecification belonging to different makers.

According to the term (terminology) conversion apparatus and the termconversion system of the present invention, wherein the term conversionapparatus receives the specification information from the user terminal,and after conversion of the terms used in this specification informationto the standard terms, sends the same to the parts maker terminal,thereby enabling for the user to omit the tedious, troublesome work tocorrespond the specification names the user is aware of to thespecification names used by the parts makers at the address of thespecification information. Thereby, the specification information of thedesired parts can be delivered readily to the parts makers. Further, thelot of time conventionally spent in obtaining the parts specificationsfrom the makers can be reduced.

According to the updating apparatus of the parts database and the methodof the present invention, including: receiving the inoperative partslist from the parts maker at the supplier; and marking out theinoperative parts by referring to the list, thereby enabling for themanagement of the parts database to be performed efficiently. Further,because of the conversion of various lists prepared in various formatsprovided from the suppliers to the predetermined standard format, it ispossible to reduce a burden on the supplier and is easy to reflect thecontents of the list on the parts database.

Still further, according to the update apparatus of the parts databaseand the method of the present invention, when converting to the standardformat, if the inoperative parts list is outside the range of automaticconversion, a symbol indicating this fact is attached to thecorresponding file name so as to be stored in the separate space,thereby eliminating the necessities of sequential browsing of thiscorresponding file, and the pretreatment for the subsequent processing.Thereby, advantageously, the actual work time can be reduced, andsuppression of error occurrences can be expected. Further, by attachingthe predetermined prefix to the file name after having gone through theconversion, even in such a case where the readable file after theconversion and other files coexist in the same folder, no trouble willoccur in the subsequent operation, and inadvertent loss of files and thelike can be prevented.

According to the parts database system and its updating method, thedatabase control apparatus and its control method, the database controlprogram and its recording medium of the invention, because each of theplurality of databases constituting the parts database system is enabledto request the information reference to the other databases using thereference key, more information related to the reference key can beidentified. According to the present invention, even if the referencekey is not clear between the plurality of databases desired to belinked, the reference key can be confirmed by referring to the fieldstructures and the data retained, and can server as the reference keyfacilitating the execution of conversion to the standard format.

Still further, according to the parts database system and its updatingmethod, the database control apparatus and its control method, as wellas the database control program and its recording medium of theinvention, the updating of the records between the respective databasescan be operated in linkage using the reference key. Thereby, even ifthese interconnecting systems are operated separately, these proceduresdescribed above are no more required to be operated for each system, andalso mutual consistency can be secured.

1. An information processing system for calculating an environmentalload volume, comprising: a first information processing apparatusincluding management means for managing a database to be handled in saidinformation processing system; a second information processing apparatusincluding addition means for adding to said database, data from saiddatabase managed by said management means related to a predetermineddivision; and a third information processing apparatus includingcalculating means for calculating said environmental load volume uponextracting data from said database based on information of an inputtedproduct; whereby modification of said database by said secondinformation processing apparatus is allowed only when said secondinformation processing apparatus has been given a special permission. 2.The information processing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein saidfirst, second and third information processing apparatuses connected viaa network to exchange data, and said data, to be exchanged via saidnetwork, is one of enciphered and security-checked.
 3. The informationprocessing system as claimed in claim 2, wherein said data is exchangedby using a web browser.
 4. A computer readable recording medium forstoring a program to be executed on a computer, said computer programcomprising the steps of: producing inventory data; generating aggregatedata from a plurality for said inventory data produced by processing insaid generating step; managing a database comprising said inventory dataand said aggregate data; and extracting said aggregate data forcalculation of an environmental load volume from said database managedby processing in said managing step.